World Traveller
by Mez10000
Summary: Nia, from another world. The journey of regeneration...Yes, it's another selfinsertion. COMPLETE!
1. Sylvarant

Merry Christmas! (It'll probably be after Christmas when I post this but…)

This is generally how I would act in ToS. I'm thinking of making this a series… For all those people who have read my 'fics (e.g. My friends) I will put in the muse conversations past this chapter. (I've been temporarily cured of my split personalities) This fic starts after the pact with Undine and before the Lake Umacy scene with the unicorn.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia, but I do own my character, Nia and a character I will mention later. I also don't own any brand names or TV shows I may mention. (So take that lawsuit person!)

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It was dark. In the dim light I could faintly see a silhouette of some of the images I held in my mind. A swordsman clad in red, a gigantic tree, the deep chasm in Asguard, these and other memories flowed through my consciousness. I reached out and grabbed the images forcing myself to them…

I was aware of terrific light that seemed to blind me. The grass underneath me cushioned my fall, thankfully. I was a little annoyed, but I sensed danger, so I looked round cautiously. I was in the deepest part of a valley, with too many plants, in my opinion. I saw only two things that weren't green, the very tip of a metallic grey building, which I assumed to be a Desian ranch and a lake with wood on it, presumably Luin, probably destroyed. Instead of moving, I reached out mentally to the air, as a sort of meditation.

Before I could contact it though, there was a sudden pain in my right leg. Looking down, I saw the source of my pain; a wolf had bitten my leg. As I was swearing heavily, I summoned fire to the palms of my hands and threw it at the wolf. The flames hit the grey canine's head, instantly singeing his fur and flesh. Howling in pain, the wolf ran. I didn't exactly pity him; after all he had bitten my leg.

Wincing, I gingerly inspected my leg. Apart from a slight wound, I was okay. The teeth hadn't gone further than my skin. Ignoring my leg I tried to contact the air again, but not before I'd checked the surrounding area for any more monsters.

A voice sounded within my (slightly crazy) mind. "Who are you?"

"My travelling name is," I thought hard for a name, "Nia. You can call me Nia." Then I remembered who, or rather what, I was talking to and added, "Or you could call me anything you want."

"You are…different?"

That was an expression I wish I got paid for every time someone said it to me. "Yes, I am from another world."

"Tethe'alla, my other half?"

"No, not Tethe'alla. Somewhere…else." I decided not to carry on with this empty chatter and get straight to the point. "I wish to borrow your power. The power of the wind."

"I see. If it is something you can do, then please feel free to." Was the ever-polite reply that was starting to bug me.

Ignoring little feelings like that I attempted to try out my newly obtained permission on my power. (Translation: I was going to use the wind) I first lifted a leaf, fairly easily, although slightly trickier than at home. Feeling more confident, I tried to lift myself. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I got annoyed. (Run for the hills!)

"Hello, why isn't this working as well as it used to!"

"You can't expect unlimited power just like that, only the Sylph could give you as strong a wind as that."

"What!" My tone was promising extreme pain to anyone that tried to cross me. Unfortunately, it's very hard to cause pain to thin air. As I realised this I started to calm down a little. "That means I'm stuffed until Sheena makes the pact," I said to no one in particular.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help." There was a genuine sadness in the voice of the wind. "This is an idea though. I could take a physical form if I had some mana from your body."

"Mana?" I didn't know how much mana I had or even if I had any. I sighed. "Take as much as you need, but slowly, okay? I don't want to faint or anything."

I heard silence from the air, which I guessed meant yes. I looked forward, expecting a magical event of some kind. At first nothing happened and I thought it hadn't worked, but eventually I saw a faint translucent figure. Slowly the figure became more opaque. I became aware of a light-headedness that I pushed aside for the time being. I was in awe. I was looking at a magnificent dragon. (I had to, I'm Welsh!) His skin was dark, black and scaly all over. He had a pair of wings, which the skin of was a crimson red. His claws, which I noticed before he retracted them, were also red, as were his eyes. He stood a head taller than me, with a wingspan of slightly bigger than my arms. (I didn't exactly have a tape measure in the middle of nowhere!)

Trying to keep focussed I remembered my second job. "Now I need to find the Chosen's group."

"We can search for them from the air," Before I could say no the wind-turned-dragon had me on his back.

The dragon extended his red wings and took off. I felt much more relaxed in the air. I wasn't afraid of heights, (Well, that would be silly, wouldn't it?) so I was more than happy to look down, my eyes scanning the ground for our bunch of heroes. From the air, Sylvarant looked a little different. What shocked me the most was the absence of cultivated fields. It made me wonder briefly where they get their food.

"I think I can see them," the dark dragon said.

"You think? Anyway, describe them."

"You can't see them? Five people, most of them fairly human, two half-elves and a red human boy's complaining about how far it is."

"That's them." I wondered slightly about 'fairly human', but decided to ask later. "Bring us down, then."

I was taken into a sudden nosedive, which probably should have worried me. It didn't. I tensed my muscles, ready to jump off when we got low enough. I saw monsters heading towards the group of heroes just before I jumped off.

I hit the ground and rolled to get rid of the impact. I sprang back to my feet to fight the monsters. It seemed my friend the wolf had come back, accompanied by two ladybirds (although they call them beetles). I looked quickly behind. I was directly in-between the monsters and Lloyd's group, and any possible help was about a hundred metres behind me. Just how I liked it, NOT! My dragon friend swooped in beside me, which assured me that I'd at least get some help off him. Feeling more confident, I launched into battle.

First off was the wolf. I threw fireball after fireball like a pyromaniac at the (now char grilled) wolf. Then I turned my attention to the ladybirds. The dragon was keeping on of them busy, so I turned to the second one. Tired from summoning so much fire I simply used hand-to-hand combat. I jumped up and chopped with my hand at the ladybird. Having brought it down to earth I proceeded to kick it and punch it in a far less refined way as my fireballs. I finished of my ladybird just before the dragon did. The battle done, I felt it was the best time for a nap. I had noticed the Chosen's group were close now, before my world went black…

I woke up, and could tell it was late as night had fallen.

I heard a voice say, "Raine, she's awake!"

The ruin-mad professor came over to me. "How are you? It looks like you collapsed from mana deprivation."

"How on earth could I have run out of mana?" I muttered sarcastically, looking at the dragon.

"Sorry," He apologised.

I wondered why Raine was being so nice; after all when Sheena first joined the group she was suspicious. A little voice in my mind said that Sheena and Regal started out as their enemies, and Zelos was an arrogant twat. I tried to speak, "I think I'm okay."

It was then that I noticed I was the attention of the whole group. Lloyd asked, "What's your name?"

"I'm Nia." Then remembering that I wasn't supposed to know anything I asked, "And you people?"

"Well, I'm Lloyd, this is Sheena, Colette's the one over there, Kratos is the one with the long hair, Genis is there and that's his older sister Raine." Lloyd pointed to each one in turn.

"Nice to meet you." I noticed something new. There were auras around everyone's bodies. Raine had an indigo aura , whilst Genis' aura was yellow. I looked at Lloyd. His aura was red (big surprise) but it was also thinner than the others.

"Humans…and ha-" I was about to say half-elves, then mentally kicked myself. Genis was looking down, ashamed of what I was going to say and Raine's teeth were gritted, a desperate look in her eye. "Elves. Humans and elves travelling together. Pretty weird, isn't it?"

Raine mouthed 'Thank you!' over at me. I smiled in return.

"Not really. Anyway, how do you know they're elves? You'd need to be either a half-elf or a full blooded elf to see that."

I thought. Looking down at my hand, my aura didn't seem any bigger or smaller than Raine's or Genis'.

"I'm a half-elf." I didn't exactly see the point in lying, especially with the caste test in Syback to look forward to. "Look, I'm going to be honest. I want to join your group. I know you've got the Chosen with you and I just want to help." There was a gasp from Colette when I said 'the Chosen'.

"How did you know we had the Chosen with us?" Kratos asked, very hostile.

"It's easy to infiltrate a Desian ranch when you're a half-elf. Every ranch has a picture of you guys in it." So that was a dirty great big **lie! **I can't exactly reveal all my secrets straight away. Besides every character has his or her secrets.

"I'm alright with it if you are." Lloyd said.

Kratos, being his normal mood self said, "Do what you will."

"I can already see how this vote will turn out, so I'm for her joining. At the very least it's another person to help in battles." Raine was actually voting _for _a new party member!

"Yeah, I'm starting to like her already." That was Genis.

Colette wrote, "If it's okay for Lloyd, it's okay for me," on Lloyd's hand for him to say.

"I don't mind, I'll be fun having someone else to talk to," Was the response from the assassin.

"Okay, looks like you're in. Just to make it official, welcome to the group Nia!" I was welcomed by the crimson clad swordsman.

"Thanks. If you don't mind I'd just like to rest for a moment…" It was then that I realised how tired I felt.

The group dispersed. Genis went to cook dinner, Lloyd and Kratos started their evening training, Raine went to read an ancient scripture or something and Sheena had a look at the dragon. I decided to see to him, I think more for the company than anything else.

"Do you have a name? I'm getting tired of referring to you as dragon." I asked the dragon. I let Sheena look on in bewilderment.

"Just call me Cyclone. And by the way, I am sorry about taking all your mana earlier."

"Don't mention it. I gave you permission. It's not your fault, Cyclone." By now Sheena's mouth was completely open. I tried to 'explain'. (or lie, whichever was easiest.) "I share a special bond with this dragon, so I can understand what he's saying."

"What do you mean, 'bond'?"

"He shares my mana. That's the reason I collapsed earlier, to give him a physical form."

"What was he before he was a dragon?"

I smiled, "Thin air."

"You can't create a life out of nothing, even if you did use your own mana, it's impossible."

"I think the full story might be for another time. Anyway, Sheena, is it? I'm going to see what the rest are doing, do you want to come?"

"Sure."

We walked over to the two swordsmen, where they were engaged in mock battle. I thought sadly, 'It won't be long before Lloyd tries to kill him for real." A single tear crept down my face, stinging as it went.

"Kratos, right? Can I speak to you for a sec?" Then noticing the enquiring looks from Lloyd and Sheena added, "Alone?"

"I have no objections," said our favourite moody swordsman.

It was going to take a lot of patience to deal with him. As soon as we were out of earshot I hissed, "You know what else Desian computers are good for? Finding past history about four thousand year old Seraphim who happen to be betraying their only child."

The change was instant. "How can you- Even Forcystus doesn't know who I am and I…right outside his ranch…" He trailed off.

I now felt sorry for shouting at him. "I know what happened, okay? About Anna, and I'm really sorry, but this is a chance to get to know Lloyd. From where I see it, you're killing him, too."

"No, I'm not. I tried to stop him, back at Iselia. But either way, the Chosen needs to get to the Tower of Salvation. Otherwise Mithos would never reunite the worlds."

"Think outside the box. Maybe someone else other than Mithos could reunite the worlds."

"…Maybe it could work. If I break Origin's seal…"

"You'd die. You can't honestly be thinking…" I protested.

"If I collect the materials before hand…there'd be no point."

"You can't be thinking of sacrificing yourself!" I spoke louder now.

"I've lived for long enough, lived with the pain that I have caused other people."

"Kratos, no, don't talk like that." My eyes were brimming with tears at the thought.

"Collecting the materials, I'd need Aionis, to make the ring of the pact, sacred wood for the fire, that'd mean a trip to Ozette, and-" by now I'd given up trying to talk sense into him.

"Kratos, I think we should go back to camp now."

I heard the trademark, "humph," in reply. I took it for a yes and started walking. I admired the stars glittering like diamonds in the night sky. However, the thing that pleased me the most was the campfire burning away. I ran up to it, enjoying it's heat. When I was sure no one was looking, I thrust my hand into the fire. I felt no pain, I never did with fire. I suppose that was because I more or less was fire but I was to explain that another time. The only times I've been burned was through water. Of course it's imaginable how much of an annoyance that is. I can't go swimming, or step out in the rain or snow, well, you get the picture.

Unfortunately, Genis, who at that time was attempting to cook on said fire, noticed my hand.

"Doesn't that hurt?" He asked.

"I would hardly do it if it hurt." I replied. Then, realising that I was being a bit harsh I said, "Sorry, but it was a bit of a stupid question. So, what are you cooking?"

"Meat stew. I'm missing some of the ingredients, though."

"Like what? The meat?" I asked jokingly.

"Yeah, actually. How did you know? Anyway, I'm using tofu instead of meat."

"Um…nice, I guess. Err…don't be offended if I don't have any. If you're wondering it'll be for the same reason as I stuck my hand in the fire."

Before Genis had a chance to answer, I had turned away to see what every one else was doing.

Closer to the fire, I could see Raine was reading some kind of book. Even knowing that readers hated to be disturbed, I still walked over there.

"So, Raine, what are you reading?"

"Oh? It's a book on ancient texts, written by the Palmacosta academy. It gives a basic grounding in Elven, Angelic and Balcruft hieroglyphics."

"Sounds interesting. Could you show me an example of any of them?" The scary thing was that I was sincere!

"Okay, lets see…this one should be easy for you." She held the pages open for me to see. At the top of the page it said 'Elven examples'. Looking at the page I found I could read it as well as English.

"It says, 'The Protozoan has seven stages in life…' And the text ends there."

"Very good. Normally, those with elven blood can read Elven quite easily. Now, why don't you have a look at Angelic writing?" Raine flicked through the book, until she found the page she wanted. "Here."

As I looked at the page, some distant part of my mind recognised the language. In it's un-translated form it said, 'Mae ci yn wyn ar ei pen." Since I wasn't supposed to understand it, I didn't translate it, but asked Raine what it meant.

"This is my own translation, without Colette's help, although I did use the book. 'My key is …… a pen."

I wondered how much Raine would freak if I told her it meant, 'The dog is white on his head!'

"Dinner's ready," Genis yelled, and I wondered how such a tiny person could have such a big voice.

Lloyd, obviously, was the first person to run to the pot, only just stopping before his foot went in the fire. Sheena got there about a split second later and everyone else just took their time. I was dreading how to decline the food politely. 'Then again', I thought, "It must have been harder for Colette."

When Genis offered a bowl to me I said, "I'm sorry, but I won't be able to eat. Please, don't worry about it." Everyone had sat in a loose circle around the fire, so I found a space next to Kratos and Sheena and sat there. No-one, to my relief, asked me why I wasn't eating anything. Suddenly I had a brilliant, evil plan. I stood up and the attention was all on me.

"Everyone, I have something to say," I announced seriously. "Kratos is a member of-" I was cut off by a swordsman putting his purple gloves over my mouth.

"If you dare say what I think you're going to say, I'll…" He let the threat hang in mid-air.

"I don't know why you're so worried, Kratos. As I was about to say, Kratos is a member of the Raine Fan Club." After that I was unable to keep a straight face and started laughing.

Kratos wasn't amused. "Cheer up. It's better than the other one I was going to say." I whispered to him.

After a while everyone decided to go to bed. Colette and Kratos were still up though, as was I. Trying to have a conversation with Colette could prove difficult, so I tried Kratos.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I guess I really rattled you, didn't I?"

"Don't worry about it. But why didn't you tell them? About…everything."

"I just couldn't. I know that you're going to suffer if you betray us. But you can't get Aionis any other way. Infiltrating Derris-Kharlan will be infinitely easier if you're still on Mithos' good side."

"But what of you? If you enter the Tower, one way or another Mithos will kill you. All of you."

"If I go down, it'll be fighting. Anyway, you underestimate me and Cyclone."

"Maybe it's not me underestimating, and you being over confident."

"You're a right bundle of joy. Remember the Desian ranch? I had to get out fighting, and Cyclone wasn't there then."

"Maybe so. …I have a favour to ask of you. Could you…protect Lloyd in the battle?" There was concern in his voice.

There was no way I could say no. "Of course, as far as humanly, or half-elvenly, possible. …If it comes down to it, you may have to fight us. I'm going to apologize in advance for any pain I will have to cause you." I was beginning to cry, again. I had no idea where these tears came from, but I wish they'd stop. It really hurts when I cry.

"Yes. You need to make it look realistic, otherwise…"

"Look, Lloyd's your son. Therefore, he's as tough as nails. He's going to be fine."

"You need to sleep. Go on."

"I could disagree, but it'll give me time to think. Anyway, good night."

I walked over to a place near the fire, where I lay awake and stared at the flames for a while. Occasionally I'd stick my hand in, enjoying the warmth that accompanied the feeling of power. I thought about what I was going to do. I knew I wouldn't be able to leave this world until the Derris-Kharlan/Yggdrasil tree was revived. I wondered where my counter-part was. He commanded water and earth, as I did with fire and air. Normally he's in the same world as me, meaning that he should have appeared by now. Still, while he's away, I can have fun.

Since I had the whole night to think of these nagging loose ends, I thought about Cyclone saying 'fairly human'. Suddenly something Sheena said (or will say) in Flanior came back to me. I couldn't remember the exact words, but she said that people who can use natural mana have to have some elven blood in them. Sheena's a summoner, Kratos can use spells, Lloyd is Kratos' son, and Colette's a vessel for Martel. It would be impossible to have the same mana signature if they didn't at least share some elven blood.

Yes, that would work, I thought happily. Then realisation dawned, ruining a would be perfect theory. 'What about the caste test in Syback?' I thought. But maybe they can only detect certain amounts of elven blood, yes, that would work, I assured myself. Then, exhausted, I fell asleep for the first time in two years.

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What do you think? Tell me using the little purple button that says review! And tell me whether you want the muse conversations or not. (I may be able to shut them up!)

Please R&R, no flames other wise Nia will burn them! (Constructive criticism is OK)


	2. Unicorn's Horn

Mez10000: It's me!

Kira: Well, duh! It is your fanfic.

Mez10000: Just do the disclaimer.

Kira: You don't own me! Well, actually you do but that still doesn't mean I'll listen to you!

Mez10000: You know the Christmas present I gave you? I could ask Nia to torch it for you.

Kira: Nooo! Not the Yuan doll! (Hugs mini-Yuan) Mez10000 does NOT own Tales of Symphonia, or anything except this storyline, Nia, Cyclone and her new character (Which still will not be named. I'm evil!). Oh, and this chapter starts with Nia asleep.

* * *

_It was dark. _(I won't start every chapter like that, I promise) _One figure stood out from the pitch black. To my surprise I recognised the figure._

"_I thought it was weird, falling asleep. It was you, wasn't it? You're the one with telepathy, after all." I accused. _

"_Well, we both get around don't we?" Said the silhouette in front of me._

"_I'm sick of playing your games. Where are you?"_

"_Right here in front of you?"_

_I took a deep, 'calming' breath. "Wrong answer. Where is your **body**?"_

"_Somewhere in Tethe'alla. I haven't found any characters yet. Zelos, Presea or Regal."_

"_I'm just outside Lake Umacy, from what I know. Apparently Sheena's made the pact with Undine. We just have the Unicorn horn to get, heal Pietro, go to the Tower and escape the Renegades and we'll be in Tethe'alla."_

"_You make it sound so easy. I'll give you two days, starting from tomorrow morning."_

"_Fine. And I've been asked by Kratos to protect Lloyd."_

"_I'll see you in two days. And if I don't, I'll contact you again."_

With that, the 'dream' ended, and I woke up. I groaned. The sun wasn't even up yet! Still, I thought the group would make a move soon, so I managed to drag myself off the ground. To my surprise Kratos was asleep. Listening hard, I noticed he wasn't breathing as deeply as you do when you sleep.

I whispered, "Breathe deeper, and longer, if you want to look like your sleeping."

I heard a faint, muffled, "Thanks," before his breaths lengthened.

I hardly had a moment to think before Colette came over. She pointed at my hand.

"Sure, you can use my hand to write."

She took my hand and wrote, "Did you sleep okay? You were muttering in your sleep."

"I'm fine, just had a bit of a bad dream."

"What was it about?"

"Someone who I see quite often, but most of the time, I don't want to see him at all."

Colette just looked puzzled at my cryptic clue.

"What time should the others get up?"

"Kratos is normally up first. Then whoever is cooking breakfast gets up next, then when breakfast is ready, everyone's up," Colette wrote, cheerfully? How you write cheerfully, I have no idea, but Colette seemed to be doing it.

"Thanks. Oh, does my hair look a mess? Please tell me honestly."

"It looks a little…ruffled. That's all."

"I haven't got a brush or comb or…anything on me! What am I going to do?" A tiny voice inside me said,_ 'Monsters, dragons, video game characters, nothing. But when it comes to your hair you have a panic attack over it.' _

Colette wrote, "You can borrow mine until we get to the nearest town."

"Thanks, Colette. I owe you one."

"No, don't worry about it." To make the message stronger she shook her head. To stop me from answering she ran over to her small bag, and found a wooden comb, carved with Colette's name.

"Wow, that's very pretty. Who made it?"

"Lloyd, as a present for my birthday. It's two years old now."

I noticed that as well as her name; Colette's comb had flowers carved into it. "Thank you, Colette." I gave my brown hair a quick brushing. It was shorter and thinner than I was used to, as a result of entering a different world.

I gave myself a quick look over. I now had shoulder-length, brown hair, which hid my pointy, Elven ears. My legs were slightly longer, which I supposed would help make me run faster. I was wearing a pair of black trousers (or breaches, whatever they'd call them) and a short-sleeved black top. Over the top I had a red top, quite similar to Sheena's clothes in style, but the top was fastened higher. Fastening the red top (I need a better word for it!) Was a simple leather belt with my elemental symbols on it. On my feet I wore leather boots and I also wore red fingerless gloves on my hands.

Great, I stuck out almost as bad as Lloyd, with the red clothes and all. Kratos 'woke up', although he was very convincing as an actor. He even faked a yawn!

"Morning, Kratos."

"Good morning, Nia, Chosen." He was still the moody mercenary we all love. (Or hate)

"Sleep well?" I asked the purple clad swordsman. (Why does he wear so much purple?)

"Humph."

"Fine, whatever. Moody -" I stopped when I realised Colette was still near me. You just don't ruin an innocent mind like Colette's. (Although she kills animals every day, but…) "…mercenaries. Moody mercenaries."

"Call me what you will," was the instant response. However, I detected a trace of a smile on Kratos' lips.

"Did you just smile? You never smile!"

"…I didn't."

"Oh, yes, you did." (Pantomime season)

"I will not stoop to your level and carry on this discussion. Besides, everyone's waking up."

"Finally." I ran to my (previously forgotten) personal bag. "Let's see what items I've randomly generated." I said quietly. Thankfully no one heard. I pulled open the bag and took inventory while everyone else had breakfast.

The first thing I pulled out was a glass bottle with a blue liquid inside. I guessed a life bottle and hoped I didn't need to use one later. After five life bottles, I found five lemon gels (noticed because of their **green **colour) and five pineapple gels. (Which were **yellow**. Any one else think this is strange!) I also had a Mizuho potion, which would help with the gnomlette in Toize Valley mine, but now I'm thinking ahead too much. I also had money (5,000 gald! Wahoo!) and a complete Monster List.

'_Oh. My. GWAD!'_ I had in my hands enough information to tear this world apart. All I needed was for one person to come across this and see who we were going to fight, and the fabric of this world would be destroyed. For example, what if our group found out about Kratos or Mithos, or the Summon Spirits?

"Hey, Nia. You ready to leave yet?" Lloyd called over.

Quickly stuffing everything else into my bag, I shouted, "Sure, I'm coming." I fastened the mini-bag round my waist and ran towards the rest of the group.

"We're going to Lake Umacy. It's quite near here," Raine explained while beginning to walk.

"Thanks." I remembered I wasn't supposed to know a lot and asked, "Why are we going to the lake?"

"It's to see a unicorn. We need his help to cure Pietro, someone we know."

"I've heard tales about the unicorn, but isn't it supposed to be under the surface? How are we going to get there?" I really **hated **asking questions I already knew the answer to. I tuned Raine out until she had finished talking then said, "Wow, really? Well thanks, Raine," In the sincerest voice I could. Then I just tuned out for the rest of the walk.

When we reached the Lake, I felt a pang of dread. I was determined not to let my fear of water stop me from seeing the unicorn, but what if Undine had trouble taking three of us out to the water? I knew these doubts were unreasonable; after all, Undine was a Summon Spirit, but my fear of water was perfectly reasonable. Full submersion could kill me in less than a second.

"All right! Sheena, summon Undine and then we can all-" Lloyd was cut off by Raine.

"It's not as simple as that. The unicorn can only be seen by a pure maiden."

"So only girls can go, huh? Well then, Colette and Raine-"

"I can't go."

"Why not?"

Raine paused as she thought of the best way to tell Lloyd. "Because I'm an adult."

I had enough of the conversation to last me a lifetime. "Colette, Sheena and I can go. Right, Sheena?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm qualified." Sheena said. If I didn't already know this I would be shocked. I mean, no girl in Tethe'alla is safe from Zelos once they're over the age of sixteen!

"Qualified?" Lloyd and Genis said simultaneously.

"You don't have to both say it at once! Stand back, I'm going to summon."

Undine appeared in a blue sparkle of light. _'They don't have the sound effects!'_ I thought.

"Undine, take us to the unicorn." Sheena said.

It was only then that I realised that my temper had forced me to travel over water. For some reason we didn't actually touch the water. (Thank Martel or whatever)

The unicorn was a mucky white colour, with a yellow mane. He spoke as the wind did, inside my head, only this time; Colette and Sheena heard him too.

"Martel?" He asked.

After a silent reply from Colette, he questioned, "You are not Martel? But this presence, this sickness, even in my blindness it is clear, you are Martel. I exist to cure Martel's sickness."

After a pause he spoke again. "I see, you are the Chosen? You may use may use my horn to heal you."

Once Colette had spoken again, he finally said, "You don't want to heal yourself, the horn is for your sick friend? Fine, take it."

A bright light shimmered from the base of the unicorn's horn, then the horn appeared in my hands. The unicorn started to fade.

"What's happening?" Sheena asked.

"Our horns are our very lives. I was glad to give mine to you. When we die a new unicorn is born. In doing so, we live on forever." He turned towards me, as tears started welling up in my eyes. "Please do not cry for me. It pains you so much more than the others."

I had a duty to this poor creature that represented my other half. "I have barely known you, yet I feel compassion. You are a creature of the land, and you have been imprisoned in water. But even though you are my opposite, one who represents my other half, I still like you, and won't ever forget you." My tears were threatening to fall and scorch my cheeks.

"The gap between unicorn and dragon is deep, yet you two children can over come that which I cannot. You have given me hope for my future life, child of the flame and wind."

The unicorn faded away, and we watched until Undine pulled us back to shore. By this time, I had already shed a few tears, as well as Sheena.

"What happened? Why are you crying?" Lloyd asked.

"The unicorn gave us his horn," Sheena cried.

I gave the horn, which was still in my hands, to Raine.

"So the unicorn is dead," Kratos announced.

"You knew?" Sheena was furious.

"When a unicorn gives his horn, he dies. In doing so, a new unicorn is born. This is why the unicorn is the symbol of death and rebirth." Kratos said, a little coldly.

"Anyway, the unicorn gave us his horn at the cost of his life. We have to use it wisely." Lloyd sounded intellectual for a moment.

"So we're going to heal Pietro. Where is he again?" I once again asked a question I already knew the answer to, and wished I hadn't played Tales of Symphonia so many times. I tuned out the answer (which is Hima in case you've forgotten) and we all started the long trek west (I turned my Gamecube on just for that information!).

Soon I got bored of walking and wished I could fly. '_Why didn't Makoto Yoshidumi _(Producer of ToS)_ put the Rheairds in sooner?_' Not that I needed the Rheairds to fly, not with my bond to the air, but I couldn't leave the rest of the group behind.

"I feel like an eagle whose wings have been clipped." I complained to no one in particular.

"You didn't have to come on this journey." Kratos, obviously.

"Don't make me start the pantomime arguments again." Then I panicked, realising they might not have pantomimes here.

"There's a good history behind pantomime. Pantomime started when the ancient Balacruf Dynasty…" Raine started. Everyone immediately tuned Raine out.

"If you're an eagle, why don't you…stretch your wings? Metaphorically speaking." Kratos suggested, using an abnormal sized word, possibly so that Lloyd couldn't understand.

Little did Kratos know that I really was yearning for the open skies. "Because I don't have the convenience of wings on my back." I whispered, keeping my voice low.

Which was the truth. I had to turn to bird-form before I could get wings.

"Anyway, how much further to Hima?" Since I got no reply, I decided to get Cyclone to find out. By the way, where was Cyclone?

"_He's behind you_." Said a voice similar to a certain dragon's voice.

'_Oh, no, he isn't!' _I thought 'loudly'.

'_Okay, you've finally remembered me_."

'_I'm sorry. I'm not used to a familiar.'_

'_A familiar? Like a witch's cat?'_

'_Um…look. You have duties to do as the wind. I can't pay attention to you all the time.'_

'_Fair enough. If you need to get me, just summon me.'_

'_Okay, that's- Hey, how am I supposed to do that?'_

'_Do what Sheena does. Ask me to appear, not with words but with mana.'_

'_That's not any clearer than before!'_

'_What are you doing now?'_

'_I'm about to murder a non-existent dragon!'_

'_You're thinking, not saying the words, and I can hear you. That's how you can summon.'_

'_Cool, I could be a summoner!'_

'_But a Summon Spirit can only have one pact.'_

'_Well, I guess that's right, but how do you know we're going to form pacts with all of the Summon Spirits?'_

'_Hey, I now live in your head. By the way, I can't believe your first boyfriend-'_

'_Okay, shut up now.'_ I tuned the voice out of my head, before realising I still didn't know how far Hima was! Luckily we got there in a couple of hours.

"Hima, village of adventures," I quoted the little message that pops up when you're playing. Everyone ignored me; Colette was saying something about healing Pietro.

Once Colette had stopped talking (Well, writing. It was Lloyd that was talking but…) I said, "If it's okay, I'm not coming inside. I have a bit of shopping to do and I don't really know Pietro."

"Sure, I don't mind," That was Lloyd.

They all went in the inn, and I had a look at the stall. I needed a comb, but would they even have one? I mean, they aren't shown in the game. Luckily they had a ton of stuff that wasn't in the game, so I asked.

"Excuse me, have you got a comb that I could buy?" I inquired in my best innocent voice.

"Of course, there's one there." he pointed to a spot on the stall, "That's only twenty gald. Is there anything else you want?"

Thinking ahead to the coming battles I asked, "Life bottles, five of them." I quickly did a calculation. If life bottles are two hundred gald, five would be a thousand gald, add the comb, and the total would be one thousand and twenty gald.

"I'll give you the comb for free, since your order is this expensive. That'd be one thousand gald, please."

I struggled a little with the money, but eventually I got the hang of all the different coins. "Thank you."

I had very little else to do, so I sat on the edge of the cliff, trying to ignore the graves behind me. The wind whistled through every where it could, my hair, my face, the side of my right leg…Hang on, how could it get in there?

I looked down and saw the teeth marks from when the wolf had bitten me. Great, I hadn't been in this world forty-eight hours and I'd managed to rip my clothes already! I fingered the holes. They were small, easily sown up, but there was something else. The material felt familiar somehow, but still strange. Then it hit me. This was morphanic material (Namco does not own morphanic material. I do!).

I always had it when I came into another world, how stupid of me to forget! No only does it change to suit the world I'm in, but I can also change it with the power of thought. Which meant…I imagined that the holes weren't there. Suddenly, half my trouser leg vanished! This trick took a lot of concentration. I imagined the trouser leg, like it was supposed to be, without the holes. This time, I didn't screw it up.

Shortly after, the rest of the group came out. I ran to rejoin them.

"Okay, what now?"

"We need to get to the Tower of Salvation." Kratos explained matter-of-factly.

"Why don't we see that dragon guy?" Lloyd piped up.

"That's not such a bad idea." Raine.

"Upwards and onwards, then." I said. At the time I didn't realise how silly that sounded.

We went up, only got three dragons ordered for tomorrow, as I already had my own. (Lucky me!) We stayed in the inn for the night, except I didn't. I snuck out in the early evening. I climbed to the peak of the mountain. It was a beautiful night, the skies were clear and stars were sparkling. I was suddenly aware of a presence behind me. I spun round, summoning fire as I did so. I withdrew the fire. It was just Kratos.

"You startled me!"

"What are you doing up? Don't you need to sleep?" His voice was calm and gentle. He was asking, not accusing.

"Nah, last night wasn't sleeping, it was more…communicating. With someone far away."

"I see. But you still haven't answered my question. What are you doing up?"

I thought of my options: lie, don't answer and tell the truth. I decided on the third option. "I felt like stretching my wings."

"Please, stop talking in riddles."

"Okay, here it is, plain and simple. I'm going to fly." I made a little flapping gesture to emphasise the point.

"You have wings too? But earlier you said you didn't have wings."

"Not yet. I just need to change." Before Kratos had a chance to argue or question, I changed into an owl. The world changed to daylight in my eyes. I still had my clothes over me. I imagined the morphanic material as a piece of cloth, tied round my foot. I didn't muck it up!

"You're going then? Wait, I'm talking to a bird…"

"Just for a little fly. If you want to come…" I realised that Kratos probably couldn't understand me.

"I'll come with you. It could be dangerous for you." Can he read minds or did he hear my message?

"Can you understand me?"

There was silence as Kratos pulled his wings out.

"Hellooooooo? Are you a mind reader or what?" I thought I heard grasshoppers chirping. "Answer me! Guess he can't hear me say that I think he's cute…" I couldn't believe I'd said that in front of Kratos, but I guess he couldn't hear me.

"What!"

Or maybe he could hear me.

"Aha, I knew you could hear me!"

"You think I'm cute!"

"Um…Of course not. I was just testing to see if you heard. And it worked."

"Humph."

"Anyway, are we flying or not? I take the option flying." I pushed off from the ground, flapping my wings. I wondered how it felt for Kratos, as he has wings and arms. To me, I was flapping my arms.

As I was lost in thought a blue and purple figure over took me! (Although owl-vision isn't good for colours) We flew for a bit and had a couple of races, but we eventually went back to Hima. Kratos had some things he wanted to tell Noishe. I kept to the skies, keeping an eye out…

Lloyd stepped out of the inn. A figure with his hair in a ponytail, who I knew to be Yuan, was charging a ball of mana.

"Kratos, look out!" Lloyd shouted.

Kratos spun, drew his sword and sliced Yuan in his stomach. Yuan teleported, dropping a silver ring. I landed on a near by post.

"Are you all right?" I asked

"I'm fine, but I gave that assassin an injury he'll not soon forget."

"Why did he try and kill you?" I feigned ignorance.

"I…don't know."

"Well, do you know who he was? Just a yes or no answer will do."

"No, and why am I getting interrogated by you?"

"Kratos, are you feeling okay? You're talking to yourself." Lloyd showed concern for the 'mercenary'. Apparently Lloyd couldn't hear me.

"Now look what you've done. Lloyd thinks I'm crazy."

"You probably are!" Then seeing the look on Kratos face, I flew away, as fast as I could. Once I'd taken human form, and regained the same clothes from the morphanic material, which took a while, I headed back to the group, who I guessed were out of bed by now.

"Hello, Nia. I have some bad news. Kratos is acting weird. Before he was talking to thin air!" Lloyd greeted.

"Nia. You need to explain."

"Nah, I don't think so."

"Nia," Kratos' voice was sterner now.

"Spoil my fun why don't you. Everyone, Kratos was not speaking to thin air. He was speaking to me."

"Huh? But where were you? I didn't see you anywhere."

"Lloyd, was there an assassin?"

"Yes."

"Did he wear a cape?"

"Yes."

"Did he drop something?"

"Yes."

"Was it a ring with the letters 'Y' and 'M' engraved in it?"

"Yes! Oh my…you were there?"

"Wow, the little genius has worked it out." I said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Thanks." Lloyd.

"Lloyd, that wasn't a compliment." Genis said exasperated (I think this is Genis' first line in this chapter! …Actually, I lie, he says 'Qualified?')

"Oh. Anyway, we need to go to the Tower of Salvation now, right?"

And we all walked uphill to where the dragons, and fate, were waiting.

* * *

What do you think? Again, only one way to tell me, review! Any background character ideas would be all right, if you want to send them too! And I can promise that the Tower of Salvation is going to be different than in the game! And that will be one of the last 'Kratos' chapters in a long time, so make the most of it. (Boy, they were hard to write!) 


	3. Tower of Salvation

Mez10000: Me again, hoping you liked the last chapter!

Kira: Why do you write chapters three months before you post them?

Mez10000: My floppy disc drive is being temperamental, (Definitely the mental part!) and I don't have a time-consuming hobby, apart from playing my Gamecube. And I don't want to think about my homework…(glances up at pile 50m high.) I'll start on it soon…maybe.

Kira: Anyway, on with the fic…

Mez10000: Hold it. (Clicks fingers) Disclaimer, Kira.

Kira: Let me guess, or the Yuan doll gets it?

Mez10000: That's the one.

Kira: (Sighs) Mez10000 doesn't own Tales of Symphonia or any related characters. If you don't recognise something from the game, then it's probably one of my ideas that Mez10000 stole.

Mez10000: I didn't steal any ideas…. well, not off you, anyway…(I'm kidding!)

* * *

It wasn't dark! (I told you I wouldn't start every chapter like that!)We were on top of the mountain. Somehow we got through choosing our partners for the dragon trip, with Kratos and Colette going first, Lloyd choose Sheena (and Sheena's face went bright red!), then Genis quickly ran over to me, to avoid being with Raine. Raine flew alone (Everyone, 1, 2, 3…Aww.).

I had to stop Cyclone from going too fast; we couldn't get near Kratos without risking the time-continuum of this world, or something like that. The flight was going painfully slowly. I couldn't even do any flying tricks with Cyclone without scaring Genis to death.

"So…" I was stuck for what to say. "In the event on an emergency landing the exits are located here," I motioned, "and here. In the event of a crash over water…"

"What are you doing?"

"Um, it's kind of a joke, I guess."

There was a huge awkward silence.

"Look, thanks for earlier. Raine and I are grateful." Genis broke the silence.

"What? You mean being half-elves? Don't worry about it."

"You know, you could've stayed 'human', I wouldn't have told them."

"When they see me fight, they'll know for sure that I'm not human. This was the easiest way…in the long run. So, tell me a bit about yourself."

"Raine and I have lived in Iselia all our lives. We were abandoned; neither of us can remember our parents. Raine is a teacher in the local school, but before that she made a treaty with the local Desians, on the Mayor's orders, so that the village could live in peace. And I…broke the treaty. To save an old lady. But they turned Marble into a monster and attacked Isealia…" His voice faded in the wind.

"I'm sorry. I bet you were exiled from the village, right?"

"Yeah, but how did you know?"

"It's at those times that people in charge need to blame someone, and punish them. Their logic is that by punishing that person, they're destroying the risk of it happening again. It's not true, though. Remember that you and Lloyd weren't destroying the village. The Desians were. It's not your fault."

"Thanks."

Cyclone swooped downwards, but not as steeply as before. I think he didn't want to worry Genis. We weren't the last people to land, Raine was.

I was panicking about what was going to happen in the tower. I know we should win, but what if me being here changed something? What if…No, I had to control the doubt. Nothing would change just by me worrying about it. Besides, we had an extra two people on our side, Cyclone, and me. Which reminded me…

"You're going to help us, right? You've seen what's going to happen, and you'll be there, won't you?" I asked Cyclone.

"Of course. Remember the reason I came into a physical form? I want to help you."

"Thanks." By this time, we had come into the tower, and were about to use the warp.

I shuddered, just noticing the coffins, then stepped into the warp. I had felt similar feelings, but the teleport was definitely the worst. It felt like I was being taken apart and being re-built, atom-by-atom. Some of the pain that I'd expected was stopped. Maybe they have a painkiller built in or something.

The altar was huge. Despite myself, I was glad. To fight we would need a lot of room. Remial appeared, in a white light that took a…g…e…s…

"Now, my daughter. Release the final seal." Remial couldn't have sounded more 'evil villain' unless he added an evil laugh. "In doing so, you will complete the final sacrifice of your human existence; your heart and memory." After that the long speech got a bit long and repetitive. They were talking about obvious things, like you have to die to become an angel. I was feeling bored so I wondered why there's so many blue eyes in the party. (And yes, sometimes I do have that short an attention span!)

Colette's back started glowing…

"Wait, Colette's your daughter. Surely you don't want her to die either!" Lloyd was trying to find any loophole possible.

'_Remial isn't Colette's father!_' I wanted to scream at him.

Remial beat me to it, saying, "My daughter? Don't make me laugh. When I came down to play the role of guardian angel, you inferior beings just started calling me her father on your own. I merely placed the Cruix Crystal upon this sacrifice, who was selected to become Martel's vessel."

Lloyd jumped onto the raised altar. "Colette!"

Colette was silently telling him not to worry, if I remember correctly.

"Colette! If you realized what was going on, then why?..."

Colette said something else silently, which I couldn't remember.

"Colette…I'm sorry! I couldn't save you…I'm so sorry!" Everyone, including me, could only hear Lloyd's side of the conversation, and they looked puzzled.

"I promised I wouldn't make another mistake, but it looks like I have again…" This was almost making me cry.

'_Colette's not going to die…She's not going to die, I don't need to cry…'_ I thought over and over to myself.

After another silent reply, Colette's feet began to lift from the floor.

"Colette!" Lloyd cried.

Colette's wings came out, and she hovered into the air. Her eyes closed, and when they opened, they were demonic red. I still had enough presence of mind to remember the upcoming battle, and started to focus my mind.

Remial finally did the evil laugh, "Muhahahahaha! I've done it! It's finally complete! Martel's vessel is finally complete!"

'_Cue evil music,'_ I thought.

"With this, I shall become one of the Four Seraphim!"

'_You want a bet, Remial? Mithos only made the 'Four Seraphim' so that himself, his sister, Yuan and Kratos were higher in rank than the other angels.' _I was starting to wish that I **was** sat in front of my Gamecube at home, so that I could at least say these things aloud!

After some more banter from both sides, (Shortened by your friendly neighbourhood authoress!) we launched into battle.

Genis and Raine instantly started their spells, whilst Lloyd, Sheena and I went in close quarters to hammer him in! Unfortunately, I couldn't quite hammer him in, so barbequed angel was on the menu! I summoned fire to my hands and attacked him with that. Remial noticed me, which I instantly thought was bad, because…

"Punishment, Photon!" Remial cast in about 0.2 seconds. In that amount of time I got extremely worried. It felt like a million daggers piercing my skin.

"Icicle!" Genis shouted, and an icicle stalagmite shot up from the ground, hitting Remial.

"Are you okay? First aid!" A warm feeling coursed through my body, healing my wounds.

"Thanks." I continued to fight. I was attacking from behind, knowing Remial couldn't reach all of us at once.

Genis used fireball, which was a _brilliant_ help to us all!

Remial turned round and hit me with his light arrows, then cast Holy Lance on Sheena. Lloyd, who was close to Sheena at the time, also got hit.

He turned round to me again, who had recovered, and was currently attacking whilst thinking of ways to make my fire stronger. One Photon and First aid later…

"I'm going long-range!" I stood about ten metres away, and started an idea, which could get spectacularly mucked up. With fire still in my hands, I drew a swirl with the fire, and summoned another flame. My hands were shaking, and I was moving as fast as I could with this thing. Finally, I used the air to move my creation, swirling, towards Remial. I had created a fire tornado, about as wide as myself, and much taller.

"Wow," was the word everyone said at that instance.

"I'm quite pleased with it too." I then got back in the fray. About a second later, _Lloyd_ fatally wounded Remial.

"How could…ultimate power lose?" Remial questioned. "Impossible…how can an angel, the ultimate being, lose to a group of humans?"

"Ignore the elven blood, why don't you?" I had always wanted to say that.

Lloyd, and everyone else, ignored me and turned to Colette. "Colette, come back to us! I'm going to restore you back to your normal self! I promise!" There was no answer from the soulless angel. "Colette…have you really forgotten me?"

Kratos stepped out from behind a pillar. I could see that he'd hoped he wouldn't have to do this. "You're wasting you time. Not only did she lose her memory, but she's lost the soul to listen to your words. Now Colette is merely a puppet, standing before death's door."

"Where have you been? What are you saying?" Lloyd had the truth, and he was wishing it wasn't true.

Kratos looked at me, almost pleading. "The Chosen desired the regeneration and choose this path herself. By the summoning of the Chosen to Derris-Kharlan, the seal will be broken and the regeneration will be complete."

"Kratos? What are you talking about?"

"It is what you wanted as well. We will take the Chosen as the new body for Martel."

"What are you talking about? Kratos…answer me!"

"Lord Kratos…please. Have pity on me. Lend me your aid." Remial pleaded with Kratos.

"Have you forgotten, Remial? I was once of the inferior race, a human. Does ultimate being seek help from that which he despises the most?"

Remial died. Lloyd moved in between Kratos and Colette.

"Move out of the way."

Lloyd asked the question on everyone's lips. "Kratos, who are you?"

After a moment, which seemed to last a lifetime, Kratos said, "I am of Cruix, the organisation that guides this world." He pulled out his turquoise wings. "I am one of the four seraphim, sent forth to keep close watch over the Chosen."

"Kratos is an angel too!" Genis asked thin air.

'_Ten out of ten for observation!' _I thought.

Sheena spoke, accusingly, "You deceived us!"

I blocked out the voices, and prepared myself for the next battle. I knew we didn't have to win, but I really didn't want to know what death felt like!

"You earnestly believe you can defeat me?" Kratos' voice was trembling slightly from emotion, although I barely heard it.

I launched into my second major fight of the hour, wishing I'd saved my strength. Before going in, close-quarters, I quickly drank a lemon gel, which tasted almost neutral, apart from a slight sour tang.

I figured a mistake of my last battle was knowing what everyone else was doing, so I 'blacked out' the others in my mind. There was only Kratos and I in this room, no one else. I summoned flames to my hands. Kratos noticed, and guarded. I craftily swept my foot underneath his shield, breaking his guard and attacked with my flames. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sheena and Lloyd taking opportunity of his broken guard, not giving any chance for him to retaliate.

Eventually, Kratos got a hit in. First he used Fierce Demon Fang, followed by Light Spear on Sheena. With her too weak to battle, he turned to me. He used his Grave spell, which, if you can't tell, hurt. A lot! Take being buried alive and cross it with being crushed with about a ton of earth and then add the spiky points at the end. I was definitely not getting up after that. As I lay there, only able to see what was going on, I wondered if I was dead. I felt nothing. Kratos quickly rid of Raine and Genis with Thunder Blade, and then attacked the only one left standing, Lloyd.

He must have left Lloyd for last, hoping he would have given up. Being Lloyd, he didn't. Kratos was forced to slash him, but refused to use any techniques. They circled, locking blades, but it was clear Lloyd was losing. They were near my corpse(?) when I felt pain rush through my body.

Pain meant life, as much as I hated it. Someone had used a life bottle! I had little time to dwell on who used the life bottle, as Lloyd was on his knees, exhausted, and his father holding his blade above Lloyd's head. Kratos hesitated, as I knew he would. I dragged myself to my feet, ignoring the pain that was everywhere in my body. I reached Kratos, 'stopping' him from bringing his sword down on Lloyd's head. (Stopping, as in, kicked him in the stomach!)

Having used up any and all energy, I collapsed. I was dimly aware of a spell being cast, and glanced at Kratos. He had a red magic circle around his feet.

'_Red? Hang on…I thought Grave was brown, and only took a second to cast?…'_ Then I figured it out. _'Kratos was the one who used the life bottle! And now he's casting a **fire** spell.' _

To Cyclone, who was somewhere in my mind, I thought frantically, _'Cyclone, need help NOW! Carry Lloyd a safe distance away from me. Kratos is going to use Explosion!'_

Cyclone swooped out of nowhere, and grabbed Lloyd just as Kratos had finished casting his spell. I was aware of red, glorious red, in front of my eyes as fire and blood. The warmth coursed through my body, filling me with energy. But I knew why Kratos has chosen that specific spell.

"Kratos, you would have killed me, if not for your poor choice of spell," I said; with as much fake venom as I could project into my voice at the man who had just saved my life.

I ran over to Raine, first giving her a life bottle, then a Melange Gel. Raine started healing the rest of the group, as another white light came down, s…l…o…w…l…y.

Yggdrasil appeared, with his (not as cool as Kratos') wings.

"I guess even you couldn't bring yourself to fight against such an opponent."

Kratos stayed silent, and I assumed he hadn't got the energy to speak.

"Are you Lloyd?" Yggdrasil asked.

Lloyd was probably trying to annoy him when he said, "Give me your name and I'll give you mine."

To my surprise, Yggdrasil laughed! "People need not introduce themselves to a dog."

"What did you say!"

"Ladies, ladies. Take your little catfight out side!" I said. Well, it shut them up!

Probably more to impress them than anything, Yggdrasil said, "I am Yggdrasil. Leader of Cruix and the Desians!"

(By the way, now may not be the best time, but there are spoilers in this fanfic! I had to tell you after the Kratos scenes, didn't I!)

For some reason, everyone thought this would be the best time to attack him. I knew that either way, we weren't going to win this battle, but hey, I wasn't going to tell everyone else that depressing fact. I contemplated the best way to commit suicide/fight Yggdrasil.

He got rid of Lloyd and Sheena by using Outburst. They didn't get up. Raine got attacked by Holy Lance while she was trying to cast Resurrection, and Genis and I got killed by Ray.

"How sad," was the muttering that I thought Yggdrasil had said.

Yggdrasil summoned the Eternal Sword, and using it's awesome power he…knocked Lloyd against a pillar. Admittedly, the force of the impact broke the pillar, but couldn't Yggdrasil have been a little bit more imaginative!

"Kratos, I trust you have no objections?"

Kratos was still unable to speak after our battle.

"Farewell."

Yggdrasil was about to shoot a ball of mana at Lloyd, when Yggdrasil was the one shot at! I looked weakly behind me. It was Botta and some Renegades.

"Damn! The Chosen has already become an angel! We have no choice. We're taking her back with us alive."

As a Renegade came over to me, I gathered my energy. "Don't worry about me."

'_Will you accept help? Please? I don't want to see you dead because of your own pride!' _Cyclone shouted at me.

I felt myself growing weaker, and now the Renegades were leaving!

'_I'm here for you this time. Just...accept help in future.'_ Cyclone appeared, grabbed me and flew me into the teleport, just a second too late!

"Cyclone, any other ideas?"

"Yeah. Get out of here as fast as possible?"

"Good plan. Now go!"

Cyclone, with me in his talons, flew out, dodging a couple of mana blasts from Yggdrasil.

We were free, out into the open air. With one small problem.

"What the hell am I going to do now!"

"Well, you know where they're headed, right?"

"Yeah, Tethe'alla. But at the moment I can't get through worlds!"

"And how exactly do they get to Tethe'alla?"

"The Rheairds!" (A/N Does anyone else say 'Rheard'?)

"Next stop, Triet Desert!"

"Finally, my kind of place!"

We flew from the Tower, to Triet. I regained my strength on the journey. The desert I landed in probably helped my recovery.

"I'm just going to knock on the front door, am I?" I asked sarcastically. Cyclone had already disappeared inside my head.

Since I had no knowledge of a second door, I barged in through the front door. Or I would have. The door was locked!

"No chance that they would have a key hidden out here, is there?" After quickly looking round for a possible hiding place, I decided that Yuan might not be that stupid.

I saw a sign saying, "All visitors, push the small button below."

Below the sign, I saw the button, so I pushed it. After all, how many choices did I have? The door creaked open. Very carefully, I walked through the doorway, on the lookout for a trap.

I was in a corridor with only one possible direction, forwards. Going through the door in front of me, I realised I was in the room with the Huge, Silver Gamecube! (HSG) Struggling to remember where to go next, I turned right. It was locked!

'_Brilliant, just brilliant. Wait, I haven't got the sorcerers ring!'_ I was stumped. _'Damn security features. How do I open the door? I'm stuck because the game hasn't given me something I should have!'_ I only stopped because I heard someone coming.

I hid out of the way, in the shadows. A Renegade came along. He was about to open the door, using a sorcerers ring! I got out of my hiding place.

"Please, give me the ring." I already knew it wasn't going to work, but I had to give him a chance.

"W-who are you? Are you one of the new recruits?" I had a slight glimmer of hope.

"Um, yeah. I rang the doorbell, but no one answered."

"Alright. I'm supposed to give you a membership pack, and I'll need to know your name."

"It's…"

'_Make up a name, make up a name!'_

"Samus Aran." I had to stop myself from giggling.

"Okay, if you'd just come this way, I can get you your membership pack." He turned to leave.

"Um, sorry, but I'm having second thoughts. Is there any way you could just, give me the ring?"

"You aren't a new recruit are yo-" He was cut off by a kick to the most vulnerable male area. While he was crouched on the floor in agony, I managed to take the ring off him. After opening the door to the right…

I found myself in another corridor! I just went straight ahead, to the room where you first zap the robots.

Sheena, Raine, Lloyd, Genis and Colette were in front of me, talking about where to go next and how to escape.

"Hello again!"

All four heads, minus Colette's, turned.

"Nia, where have you been? We thought you were dead!" Lloyd said.

"Cyclone was going to fly me into the teleport, only he was a little slow. We just decided to get out of there and find you."

"How did you know where we were?"

"I…Actually, I don't know," I quoted Mithos (And yes, I do know half of ToS off by heart!). "Cyclone was the one who flew me here, I'll try asking him later."

"Anyway, it's good to have you back! We're going to Tethe'alla now…and this could be your last chance to turn back." Lloyd was hesitant about the turning back part, as if he didn't want me to leave.

"Are you kidding? I'm definitely coming with you! You're stuck with me!"

"Okay, so now we just need to find the Rheairds!"

Then there was silence, as no one knew where the hanger was, and I couldn't tell them. We traipsed around the base for a while, just getting rid of Renegades when it was necessary. Eventually we found the hangar, and Raine ran over to the computer.

I was curious, so I looked at the screen. It was exactly like a normal computer, with Windows XP on! (Me no own Microsoft!)

Raine managed to find the Rheairds by going into, Start, Programs, Base Functions, and finally, Rheairds.

The Rheairds lifted out from the ground, and we all grabbed one. I was back in the air again! And about to crash into the Fooji Mountains, but hey, might as well enjoy the ride!

* * *

Me: I decided to leave the chapter that long, instead of doing until night. Well, tell me if you enjoyed it. I'm only going to keep writing if people did! And those were my first 'real' battle scenes; so if people could find ways to make those better, please say. Oh, if anyone knows Pronyma's attacks off by heart, could you tell me them, as I never know the names (I just concentrate on defeating her!)

Another note, ice-creams (imaginary chocolate flavour!) to who ever gets some of my obscure gaming references.

Well, keep reading!


	4. Te'thealla

Kira: (swings round on huge, evil villain chair, stroking a cat) Hello, Mez. I've been expecting you.

Mez10000: I should hope so, it is my 'fic. What's with the evil villain style?

Kira: I have hidden mini-Yuan in a fireproof, teleport proof location. You cannot make me do your disclaimers any more!

Mez10000: Guess what? I was going to give you your holiday after this one disclaimer, but I guess you'll just have to miss out on a Caribbean cruise…

Kira: Mez10000 does not own Tales of Symphonia, Namco does. She owns, Nia, Cyclone and her other character which might be mentioned this chapter. Now, can I have the holiday? (says without breathing)

Mez10000: Fine, I guess I'll have to threaten some other muse…

* * *

I was flying, and for once I was relying on a machine. It was actually pretty scary, because a living thing you can always trust to want to stay alive, but a machine, if it ran out of fuel, wouldn't care. Even worse, though, is the fact that I knew we were going to crash!

'_Cyclone?'_

'_What?'_

'_You're going to help me, right? When we fall? It's either you, or turning into a bird.'_

'_I don't see why you're trying to hide most of your powers.'_

'_Knowledge is power. Once, someone had a lot of knowledge about me. Enough said.'_

Cyclone looked through my memories. _'Ouch, that must hurt.'_

I sighed. _'I haven't told my own family about these powers, about the fact that I'm gone for weeks and months and then, when I'm back, it's only been a couple of seconds.'_

Cyclone was about to say something, when the Rheaird gave an unsettling shudder.

"Uh, oh!" I whispered under my breath.

'_Don't worry, I'm here to help.'_ Cyclone reassured me.

I scanned the horizon for the mountain that we were supposed to crash on. The problem is, they all looked very similar from my point of view!

The Rheaird started to dive and I started to panic. How ironic would it be if I were killed from flying? Cyclone swooped out from nowhere and controlled my fall, although he had very little power over wind in his current form. I too, tried to help, by using what little power I had over the wind, and by turning into the lightest bird I could be, without being too vulnerable.

I was a peregrine falcon. My bird form was used to hurtling downward at great speeds, as peregrines hunt by swooping down as fast as they can on their prey. I couldn't remember exactly how fast they could dive, but I knew that the peregrine wasn't worried, so I shouldn't be.

The final crash came. It wasn't as bad as I had expected. In fact, the only thing damaged with everyone was the Rheairds, which was a minor miracle.

"Is everyone alright?" Sheena asked.

"Nothing broken," I replied.

Nobody was badly injured, so they decided a good spot to chat about where to go next would be here. I wasn't complaining, it was a nice, high mountain, with a good, strong wind blowing. After a while, they seemed to be talking about anything and everything when I heard about the Tower being in both worlds.

'_Could they get to the point any slower?'_

'_You need to be more patient. Sooner or later you're going to miss something important."_

'_But I already know what they're going to say!'_

'_Okay then, you can tell me what's going to happen.'_

'_We're going to go to Meltokio, deliver a letter for Sheena to the King, almost getting Colette killed, then we're gong to go to Syback, but not before acquiring two new team mates, Zelos and Presea and…Wait, how far do I have to go? Are you even listening to me?'_

'_Huh? Um, yeah, of course I'm listening. When are they going to sleep?'_

'_Well, um, I guess…Alright, I don't know that!'_

'_Now do you see why you have to listen?'_

I sighed. _'Yeah, I guess so.'_

I started to listen, just as Lloyd said, "Let's get going!"

'_I can see why Kratos' favourite saying is, "Humph!"'_

'_Well, when life gives you lemons…'_

'_Yeah, make lemonade. But what do you do when life gives you 'special high intensity training'?_

'_Huh?'_

'_Don't worry about it.'_

I was bored. I was talking to a voice in my head and I was on alert for any monsters that wanted to attack me. In other words, a normal day at school!

I wondered who I could talk to. Sheena was leaving soon, for a while, anyway.

"Hi, Sheena. Um, got anything interesting to talk about?"

"Most of the others are really curious about what Tethe'alla is like. This might seem like an odd question, but why aren't you that interested?"

"Well, I've travelled around a bit, so, I just adapt, instead of asking questions."

"Isn't there anything you want to know?"

"What money do you use?"

"The same gald as Sylvarant."

"It's interesting, that two worlds that barely know of the existence of each other, have the same currency."

"I never really thought of it like that."

"Here's another question. Which world would you say is warmest, on average?"

"Can't you feel for yourself?"

"I want another, different opinion."

"It's close, but I'd have to say that Sylvarant is slightly warmer."

"Maybe it's because of Efreet's influence."

"Yeah, maybe. You know with Cyclone? Is he like Corrine? Does he hear what you're thinking?"

"Yeah, he does. It's a little annoying sometimes, but I love him really."

"It was really weird at first, with me and Corrine. But after a while, you just can't imagine what you'd do without them."

"Cyclone saved my life."

'_And you gave me mine.'_ Cyclone butted in.

"What?"

'_You gave me my life as a dragon. We're even.'_

"Alright, I guess we are even."

"That's one thing you need to get used to. Switching from normal conversation, to thought conversations." Sheena told me.

I was puzzled, until I realised what she meant. "I'm sorry, I guess I spoke with Cyclone aloud, didn't I?"

"Yeah. It's best not to do that, because people start saying you're crazy. I know from experience."

"Thanks. Do you think it's going to be easy to cure Colette?"

"Wow, you sure can be random sometimes. I don't know. It really depends on what the cure is. I mean, if it's something impossible like having Colette eat Aionis then of course it'll be hard. But then again, it might just be a certain word, or something, that will cure her."

I looked at the sky, and wished I had a watch. "Do you think it's time we should be setting up camp? The sky looks darker."

"I don't know. Umm, everyone? When are we going to set up camp?" Sheena asked the rest of the group.

"We should certainly get a fire going before dark. We need the protection." Raine explained.

"Well, we're at the foot of the mountain now. Why don't we set up camp here?" I suggested.

"Sure, fine by me." I noticed that once Lloyd had spoken, the rest of the group had settled.

"I'm cooking cream stew tonight. I'll need a good fire for cooking on." Genis informed us.

"Cyclone and I can get firewood. Sheena too if she wants to." I offered.

"Thanks. We should try looking slightly east of here, there's a forest." Sheena said.

"Be careful. If you need any help…" Lloyd started.

"Lloyd, there's me, Sheena, Cyclone and Corrine. I think we'll be fine, and if we aren't, well, I'll think of something."

Sheena and I set off into the forest. The setting sun had bathed everything in a golden light.

"I like this time of day. Everything feels quieter and more peaceful." Sheena explained.

"I have mixed feelings when I see the sun set. It's a massive fireball, so I'm sad to see it go, but nighttime is always better for practicing my powers. …Before in the village I used to live in, no one knew I was a half-elf. To keep it secret, I practised at night." My words echoed the truth, after all, would you want to be cast out for being different?

"I know what you mean. When I started summoning, people started looking at me differently. Apparently, you need elven blood to use natural mana in any way. But I haven't got any other benefits from it. I can't sense mana, or use spells or anything!" Sheena picked up a dry branch of dead wood off the floor.

"I think that depending on how much elven blood you have, you can have different things. I can see …mana signatures…I think that'd be the right word. They're like…coloured outlines. For example, your mana signature is quite thin and green. Green symbolizes being trustworthy and compassionate."

"Wow, have you memorised what each colour means?"

I looked down at my hand. "No, I hadn't. The last part just…came out of no-where." My aura was red, obviously thicker than Sheena's, but it shimmered slightly.

"What colour is your mana signature?"

"Red. It means…passionate, power, leadership…that can't be right. It just isn't me. The weird thing is, these answers only pop into my head as I'm saying them."

"Maybe you just think of yourself differently than your mana signature does. Like, passionate, for instance. Remember when the unicorn died, or when Kratos betrayed us? And power…well, your command over fire, most people would call that a power. Hmm, leadership…all leadership is, is making the right decisions, and you managed to survive in the Renegade base, didn't you?"

"When you think about it like that, it almost makes sense. Almost. Thanks. Anyway, I think we need a bit more wood, don't you?"

So far we had collected a twig. Later, we returned to base camp with a big armful of sticks and other deadwood that was dry enough for the fire. As 'the-girl-with-fire-powers' I felt it was my duty to get the fire going. I started a small pile of the smallest twigs and set them alight. My fire tended to be very hardy and before long, I was feeding the bigger sticks, until soon, we had a fire worthy to cook on.

I stuck my hands in the fire, to help recharge myself. I was aware of myself aching everywhere, and wondered why. It was a stupid question, seeing as I'd fought three angels, during which, I'd been hit by Photon twice, Grave once and Ray once! Not to mention that these people's idea of a 'short walk' was a fifteen-mile hike!

"So," Sheena said, as she sat down next to me, "what do everyone else's mana signatures look like?"

"Lloyd's is red, but a lot thinner than mine. Red stands for leadership, passion and power. Colette's **was** blue; it stands for devoted and calm. Now, it's just grey, empty. Genis' is yellow, that's intellectual and enthusiastic, and Raine's has a tint of yellow, but is mainly indigo. Indigo represents healing."

"That's amazing. Maybe it's your elven blood telling you what each colour stands for."

"Maybe. I'm trying to think what Kratos' colour was. It was yellow, but tainted somehow. I just shrugged it off before. Yellow, but negative is overly critical and untruthful. Kratos was being very critical of Lloyd's skills wasn't he? And he didn't tell us the truth either."

"This could be some elven way of finding out who's a friend of not."

"It could be, but I'm going to get to know you guys without the mana signatures. It's a bit of fun, but you can't base a big decision on it."

Sheena suddenly said, "Do you think food's ready? I'm starving!"

"I don't know. You go and find out. After all, I won't eat any."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't eat or drink anything. I also can't touch water without being hurt. Don't worry, I'm used to it."

Dinner passed with very little bother, and it wasn't long before the sun had set, and everyone was going to bed.

Normally, darkness gave me a thrill unparallel to anything else I could think of. But today, I felt tired. I wanted nothing more than to lie down and fall asleep.

'_What does he want now?'_ I thought. I'd realised that my other half was trying to contact me.

'_There's only one way to find out. Go on, go to 'sleep'. I'll watch over you.'_ Cyclone persuaded.

I lay down on the earth near the fire and closed my eyes.

I was in the black room again, with only a silhouette to tell me of another's presence. Before I could speak, he asked me, "Where are you? I said two days, and guess what? It's been two days!"

"_Am I supposed to be intimidated by that? Any way, we're in Tethe'alla, just as I said. Where are you?"_

"_You're in Tethe'alla? Great, I'll see you tomorrow." He broke the connection._

'Gee, can't he for once tell me where he is? This really bugs me.'

'I sense you're a little angry. Anyway, you were only asleep a minute, so you have a couple of hours to kill.'

'How much is a couple?'

'Um, ten?'

'Okay, that's it. I **need** to fly!' I changed to a bird form, and used my anger to change the morphanic material. It always worked better with emotion, for some reason.

I took off, using the wind as a guide. Something swooped behind me. I tried not to panic, chances were it was Cyclone. Besides, I was a Long-eared owl, nothing on earth preys on them. Then I had to remind myself that I wasn't on Earth.

I dived down, the whatever-it-was followed. I tried every manoeuvre possible as an owl. The whatever-it-was was still behind me.

Clutching at straws, I called out, "Cyclone?"

"Wrong."

I was grabbed from behind, half-expecting talons sinking into my flesh. Instead I was grabbed by hands, human hands. I looked behind, using that very handy three hundred and sixty degree turnable neck of an owl. I was shocked by what I saw.

"Kratos!"

Kratos said nothing. He held my right wing with one hand, stretching it out. His thumb was tight on my wing, applying constant pressure. He landed expertly on the ground.

"Kratos, what are you doing? Why?…" I was really confused. Kratos was treating me like an enemy, and he hadn't said a word. Silently I called to Cyclone for help.

Cyclone swooped out of nowhere (Must ask him how he does that!) and grabbed Kratos' arms. Which didn't really help. I was being held, by the wings, by Kratos and Kratos was being held by Cyclone. All we needed was someone else to grab on to Cyclone…

Assuring myself that now was not the best time for my weird humour, I summoned fire, which made Kratos let go of me.

"Somehow, I'm assuming this isn't just a friendly hello on your way back from work?"

"Humph." We've all seen Kratos in a hostage situation; he's not the world's biggest talker.

"You know what? I can sense something unusual about you, Kratos. You like the dark. You feel the same craving I do, the temptation to use your power. Except you need the night. Darkness is a concealer, it hides the truth. Any knowledge about you is power, so you don't want to give them any knowledge, or it could turn on you."

Then, suddenly, I realised why he had come.

"And I know too much. Any thing about you could be used to harm you, that's why you're here, isn't it?"

"Yes, I checked the Desian databases. You've never even set foot in a Desian ranch."

"Um…I was extremely good at infiltrating it?"

"You said you had to get out fighting. One way or another, you lied, and I want to know why."

"Why are you concerned anyway? Oh, right, Lloyd. Should've guessed, stupid question."

"Nia, why did you lie?" Kratos voice could somehow command attention, even being held hostage by a dragon!

"I guess I really can't lie forever. You're just too smart. Cyclone, let him go. I don't think he'll hurt me until he gets an answer." Cyclone released him. Kratos withdrew his wings, as a signal that he wasn't going anywhere.

"I'm from a different world. I lied because the truth would tear this world apart. I know every single secret, everybody's story."

"How do you know about all this, if you are from a different world, which I still don't quite believe?"

"I never travel before I've done market research."

"Please, not the riddles."

"You've got to understand, my world is far more technologically advanced than this world is."

"You mean it has better magitechnology?"

"Yes, but we drop the 'magi'. Anyway, using this technology we can see into different worlds."

"And transport into them? How many people should I expect from your world?"

"That isn't a technology, travelling between worlds. We don't have any kind of Rheairds. It's my own power, shared with one other."

"Who's the 'one other'?"

"My other half. He commands water and earth. Two opposite people, me and him. It's actually a miracle that we're both not evil. Although, what is good and evil? I-"

"I don't feel up for a long lecture on good, evil and how thin the line is."

"Okay. This is probably a better definition. As a person, good and evil doesn't exist. There's only you, the people who are on your side and the people who are against you."

"I would hate for you to be a person who isn't on my side."

"Then I won't be. I mean, I'm on your side."

"But what is your purpose for being here, in this world?"

"Hmm…it's hard to say exactly why, but I can tell you that I won't hurt your son. I'm here to help."

"And I'm supposed to just take your word for it?"

"You could watch everything I do, but I seriously doubt you have that much free time."

"I'll let you go. I…trust you. But know this. If you intentionally hurt Lloyd…"

"Don't worry, I'll expect the death penalty. Something similar to what you did to Kvar?"

"Humph." With that, Kratos flew off.

I made my way back to camp, and waited for the sun to rise.

* * *

Me: Okay, a little shorter than normal, but most of the chapters are going to be around a day from now on. Because Kira's on holiday (snigger) I've asked around, to borrow some muses. Expect mayhem! 


	5. Stephen & Izarax

**Me:** Okay, I didn't think I had so many temporary muses! (I don't own these!) Introducing…Dr. Z.

(Dr. Z comes in)

**Me:** Hello Dr. Z

**Dr. Z:** What is the point of saying 'hello'?

**Me**: Um, to greet you?

**Dr. Z:** What is the point in greeting me?

**Me:** It's the human thing to do.

**Dr. Z:** I'm not human.

**Me:** (sigh) Why do my friend's give me so annoying muses? Next up, Jingo.

(Jingo flies in)

**Jingo:** My name is Jingo and I belong to Jana11015. She's mean! She threatens me with my Kratos doll!

(Kratos and Nia are already in the room, but they were quiet so no one noticed.)

**Kratos:** You have a doll of me?

**Nia:** Where did you get it from? I want one!

**Kratos:** Why does everyone want a doll of me?

**Nia/Me/Jingo:** Because you're cute!

(Kratos looks horrified)

**Me: **I'm sorry if I don't use your muse, and I've promised to, but it's already mayhem here! And who's doing the disclaimer?

(Everyone points at Jingo.)

**Jingo:** What?

**Me:** You have been nominated to do the disclaimer.

**Jingo:** I won't do it!

(Jana11015 comes in and hands me a Kratos doll)

**Me:** You'll do it, or Nia torches the doll!

**Jingo:** Nooooo! Kratos! Mez10000 does not own Tales of Symphonia, Namco does. She also doesn't own anyone who was in the conversation, apart from Nia and herself.

**Me:** From now on, only two insane people in my mind at any time! It makes the chapter a page longer with all these people! Jana11015 owns Jingo and Zoronlink owns Dr. Z.

**Everyone:** Sorry!

* * *

We were heading towards Meltokio. No one had done anything particularly fascinating, and life was pretty normal. Well, as normal is it can get when you're travelling round in a video game, and have a dragon in your head.

"**LLOYD IRVING!**" Raine's voice bellowed. Everyone looked very scared.

"Lloyd, what have you done to get Raine in such a bad mood?" I asked quietly.

"I don't know. Failed school for the last ten years!" Lloyd slowly went over to Raine, who was brandishing what looked like charcoal.

"Lloyd, what have you DONE!"

"I didn't do anything! And what's that in your hand?"

"I found my precious research sample in the fire!"

"Oh, I just thought it was a piece of wood, so…"

Everyone turned away. No one wanted to know what Raine would do when she was in such a foul mood. After one very loud metallic crash, we looked round to see if Lloyd was still alive. Fortunately, he was, but he was clutching his head.

"Are you okay?" Genis was concerned. After all, he had faced his sister's wrath before.

"Oww. I think I'm okay."

"Remind me **never** to get on Raine's bad side." I said.

Once Lloyd could stand, we journeyed to Meltokio. Almost no one spoke, out of fear of provoking Raine. Once we had got to Meltokio, Sheena left and gave us the letter for the king. The funny thing was, I didn't see her write the letter, but I wasn't really concerned.

"So, any ideas where the castle is?" Genis asked.

"I vote for going up the huge staircase." I quickly shouted, before we traipsed around Meltokio for a couple of hours.

"Why?"

"Simple psychology. The stairs are opposite the entrance, so it's one of the first things you see. Then the stairs are striking, and grand."

"Well, I didn't understand that, but you're saying that the castle is going to be up the stairs right?" Lloyd had recovered from Raine's 'attack'.

I sighed. "Yes, at least, that's what I think."

Everyone took my advice and went up the stairs. On the first platform, we were met by a certain red-head and his gang of 'hunnies'.

'_Oh, brilliant. Zelos.'_

'_What about him?'_ Said a voice in my mind. It wasn't Cyclone.

'_Another thing I'm going to love. Meeting you.' _I had guessed by now that it was my other half. Again, I think the telepathy gave it away.

'_Aw, you don't really mean that?'_

'_It's called sarcasm, look it up. Anyway, where are you? And what are you calling yourself in this world?'_

'_I'm behind Zelos' group. I've been with them for the last day and a half. And my name will be Stephan in this world. That's what I've already told Zelos.' _

I looked, and Stephan was standing just behind Zelos' gang. He was about the same height as me, just shorter than Zelos. He had short brown hair, and his suit was similar to mine except his top was blue instead of red. The only other thing that was different was that he wore a black cape. The most striking thing about him though, was his aura. It was as thick as mine, but a brilliant sapphire, which shimmered like mine.

(A/N Stephan will be based on a real person. I've put the cape in at his request, so he can quit bugging me!)

Zelos came up to me, as he'd probably finished flirting with the other girls in the party.

"Why, hello. Who is this gorgeous beauty that I see before me?"

"My name's Nia. And if you flirt with me one more time I'll show you where to shove that sword of yours," I said in a sweet, innocent voice.

"Ouch. I guess I'll have to work on you later, my hostile beauty. See ya later my little angel, my lovely lady, my hostile beauty and you, uh…other people."

Zelos walked off, but Stephan stayed behind. Even without telepathy I knew what he wanted.

"Hey, who are you?" I asked. Asking questions I already knew the answer to was becoming really annoying!

Sounding like some really cheesy hero, he replied. "I am Stephan. Who are you?"

I resisted a very strong urge to palm my face.

"We are travellers from Sylvarant. Do you know where the castle is?" Raine asked.

"Sure. If you want, I'll take you there. I don't have anything else to do."

"Weren't you with Ze-his group?" I realized that they didn't know Zelos' name yet.

"Yeah, but Zelos has this big important meeting which I can't exactly go to. So, I've got a lot of time free."

I was half hoping that Stephan just wanted to explore the two worlds by himself, but he wanted to journey with us.

'_Why me?'_ I asked Cyclone.

'_You know, I can hear you even when you're talking to your guardian. So, spill. What is he, who is he?'_ Stephan kindly butted in.

'_Cyclone, Stephan; Stephan, Cyclone. Cyclone's a dragon and we still don't know what Stephan is.'_ I introduced them.

The last piece of information brought sniggers from Cyclone and, _'Hey!'_ from Stephan.

'_Anyway, have you got a guardian yet?'_

'_Actually, I have. Say hello to Izarax, the unicorn.'_

I ignored a low growl from Cyclone.

'_I thought the unicorns were extinct. I saw the last one die…'_

'_And when a unicorn dies, a new one is born.'_ Said a different, slightly familiar voice.

'_I've been meaning to ask about that. If a new unicorn is born when the old one dies, then how have they become extinct?'_

'_Maybe you should ask your dragon.'_

'_What? Cyclone, what does he mean?'_

'_The only thing that can truly kill a unicorn…is fire, dragon's fire. I'm sorry, I should have told you earlier.'_

'_In the War, two opposites were always pitted against each other. Elven kind and humans, Tethe'alla and Sylvarant, unicorn and dragon.' _Izarax explained.

'_I'm sorry. I guess that's what you meant at Lake Umacy, 'the gap between unicorn and dragon is deep…'_ After that, I almost broke into tears again. (Darn emotions!)

I hadn't realised it until now, but we were right outside the castle. The guards stopped us.

"Excuse me, but we have a letter to give to the King."

"I'm sorry, but the King isn't granting any audiences while he's ill. The Church of Martel is holding rituals to pray for his health. If this letter is so urgent, I'd suggest going to the church."

Another pair of guards came, and took over the job of guarding the doors.

"Okay, guess we should go to the Church." I said with fake enthusiasm.

"But what about Stephan? We don't need to drag him around with us." Raine asked.

"I don't mind, like I said earlier: 'I'm bored.'" Stephan said.

"You'd better know now: danger follows us around where ever we go."

"Do I look like I'm going to be put off? I'm coming with you. Besides, I'm quite experienced at fighting."

"What weapon do you use?" I asked. I added silently, _'In this world.'_

"Twin daggers. And some…magic. That's probably the best word for it."

"What exactly do you mean by magic?" Genis asked. I think he could already sense the elven blood.

"Manipulating mana outside of my body." I was shocked that Stephan knew a word as big as 'manipulating'! (The real 'Stephan' wouldn't!)

"What?" Lloyd didn't understand.

"Instead of using normal magic, like Raine or Genis, he uses magic like me." I explained.

"But what difference does that make in battle?" Lloyd again asked.

"We have a nearly unlimited supply of mana to use. Unfortunately, I, at least, am bound only to two elements, fire and air." I explained.

"As I am bound to water and earth." Stephan said.

"Okay, I don't quite get it, but I've got it." Lloyd said, causing everyone to sigh.

I didn't see a point in the last couple of minutes of conversation. Anyway, we somehow went into the church and heard about the rituals that were being held in the King's chambers, or something like that. It's not my fault if I don't listen.

'_Then whose is it?'_ Cyclone asked.

'_I don't know. Maybe I should: "blame my fate!"'_ My remark drew sniggers from Stephan (huge Kratos fan!), who was obviously listening.

'_Why is Stephan always listening in?'_ Cyclone asked.

'_Don't worry, it's getting annoying for me too. I mean, I have to listen to what a kaq has to say.'_ Izarax complained.

'_What's a kaq?'_ I wondered.

'_It's an unpleasant word in the unicorn language that means dragon.'_ Stephan explained, unhappily.

'_Are you okay, Cyclone?'_ I knew it could be horrible when people started calling you names.

'_I'm fine. I'm mature enough not to sink to his level.'_

'_Please, you two. I know you have your differences, but don't you think Nia and I have them too? We share an uneasy friendship at the best of times because of the elements, and we don't need you making it worse.'_ Stephan reasoned.

'_Take his side, after all, he does share your elements.'_ Cyclone answered back.

'_Cyclone, stop it. Stephan isn't taking anyone's side. You two are behaving like children.'_

'_But…'_

'_Cyclone. Stop this, NOW!'_ I commanded. I was experienced with using Stephan's telepathy, so I shot my fury at Cyclone. I could feel him quivering in fear. I also felt momentarily tired.

'I'm sorry, Nia. You must understand that we have always loathed each other, maybe not in these forms, though. Don't you hate every drop of water that falls on your skin, just because it causes you pain?'

I sighed. _'I overcame that. Don't you realise that the way you're both going, it's the same way as Mithos and humans? We're on a journey that may help end discrimination between humans, elves and half-elves, yet two old, and supposedly wise, elemental beasts still won't let the past go.'_

'_She's right. Has either of you actually harmed the other directly? Is this a fight between one dragon and one unicorn, or is it the on going fight between all unicorns and all dragons?'_ Stephan sounded like a counsellor.

'_I'm sorry. I'll try to keep an even mind, at least about Izarax.'_

'_Me too. I don't want a repeat of the Kharlan War.'_

'_Okay, well, good that's sorted.'_ I said. I was jerked away from my thoughts by…

"Nia, are you in there at all?" Lloyd said, waving his hand in front of my face.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just had a…small problem with Cyclone. All better now."

"We were trying to get your attention for the last couple of minutes!" Genis.

"Okay, what did you need me for?"

"We're inside the castle, with the help of Presea."

"Oh," I murmured weakly, because I'd seen the interior design.

I was stood on a red carpet, which stretched out towards the king's throne. A group of guards stood in front of the throne. There was a passage to the right and left of me, both with a red carpet up them. There were two balconies, one to the left of me and one to the right. Everything was either red, gold, white or blue.

"Wow, is this place big enough?" I asked. There was a slight echo off the walls and the guards looked disapprovingly at us.

"We need to find the King. Stephan do you know where he is?" Lloyd asked.

"Why'd ask me?"

"If you haven't noticed by now, we're from Sylvarant. We had enough trouble finding the castle in the first place." I told him.

"Yes, but why didn't you ask Presea?"

"I don't know. Lloyd?" I passed this question on to the crimson clad swordsman.

"Um, I think we should go now," Lloyd tried to escape from the question.

Everyone took Lloyd's 'advice' and since Presea wasn't talkative, we did what we normally do when in a new area; explore. We took the right passage, wandered into the kitchen, wandered out of the kitchen, walked up the stairs, got bored and asked for directions.

Before any of us had spoken, the guard opened his mouth. "I am patrolling the inside of the castle. Diligent security will stave off those who would seek to infiltrate the castle."

"Right. Well, good luck with that." I struggled to keep a straight face. "I was wondering though where the King's quarters were? You see, I'm new here and I need to know where I'm not allowed."

"The King's chambers are on the top floor. You can't miss them. And you shouldn't worry about strolling into them by accident, there's a Papal Knight on duty right now.

"Thank you, sir." I acted a meek housemaid, and stepped down the stairs.

"Nia, the guard said the **top** floor! Why are you going down?"

"I don't want that guard to find out I'm not working here. If he does figure it out, which I'll admit is unlikely, he'll bring back up. Better to just go round the other way, I think."

We went back to the main room, took the left and went to the top room, the King's chambers.

"What do you want?" A papal knight asked.

"We need to see the King. We have a letter we need to give to him," Lloyd explained.

"I'll just check." The knight turned around, to go into the room.

"Sorry about this." Lloyd apologised, as he hit the guard in the back, where a leather guard, rather than metal plating, protected him.

We stepped over the unconscious body and entered the King's room. Inside there was the Pope, Zelos and the King, all startled that we had barged in.

"Who are you?" The king asked.

In an attempt to shorten the conversation, I replied, "We are travellers from Sylvarant. We come bearing a letter from Sheena of Mizuho." Then, as an afterthought, I added, "Your majesty."

"These are people from the declining world?" The Princess asked, absolutely disgusted.

'Yeah, imagine that. You're used to living a sheltered life with the absolute best right in front of you whenever you want it, then these wild, savage people burst in on the daily politics.' I thought.

'Who are you talking to?' Cyclone asked.

'I don't know. Anyone who'll listen, really.'

'I'll listen. What are you talking about?' Stephan butted in.

'Can I have a private conversation, at least inside my own head! Most people take that for granted.'

'Sorry. So, do you want to talk or not?'

'Fine, we'll talk. So, how's the weather?'

'Aw, come on. I'll leave you in peace if you won't talk.'

'Yay!' Stephan's threat had the opposite effect.

'Hey, if you hadn't noticed, we're in the crimson room now.'

'What? Really?' I snapped out of my half-daze and looked round.

We all stood in a fancy guest room that was painted the same shade of red as Lloyd's clothes. Glancing round, I couldn't see Lloyd anywhere, just a 'floating' head above the sofa. (or couch)

Suddenly, some palace guards stormed in and tried to kill Colette. Despite myself, I thought that a crimson room was the perfect place to spill our blood. Of course, Colette easily pushed them away.

"See, I told you. They have Exspheres. Of course they're powerful." Said the insufferable Zelos. (And yes, I do loathe Zelos)

Just when I thought I was going to die from boredom, listening to the long conversation, a giant, pink rabbit jumped down from the ceiling and started waving a pair of nunchucks around! Later I found out I was hallucinating from boredom. (I wonder if that ever happens to Lloyd?)

We left the room shortly after and I had to say goodbye to Wilfred, the rabbit. Me saying goodbye to an invisible, six foot tall rabbit earned me some strange looks but I wasn't bothered.

We were to meet Zelos at the Church of Martel. I briefly wondered why Zelos wasn't with us now, after all, we could try and peg it back to Sylvarant. (Has anyone actually tried this? Could you say what happens, if anything?)

We entered the church while my mind was still contemplating possibilities like this.

* * *

Okay, couple of apologies.

Sorry for people who are reading this before I post it, I almost quit in the middle of this chapter.

Sorry for Wilfred, but he just popped into my head and he was a very good distraction from the 'proper' story line.

The next few chapters are going to be hard to get right, so sorry in advance if I'm a little slow.

Sorry for having the 'Colette syndrome.' (Saying sorry for everything)

R&R!


	6. Naois Gwenwyn

Me: Yay, I'm hyper! And since Kira still isn't back…(snigger) I have some more temporary muses! First one is Tigger who belongs to my mate laras daughter.

Tigger: Hi! Laras daughter said for me to give you this…(hands me a silver envelope)

Me: You haven't looked at it have you?

Tigger: She made it un-openable to muses.

Me: I've got to ask her how she does that. Tigger, can you do a disclaimer?

Tigger: Yeah, sure! Mez10000 does not own Tales of Symphonia or Namco. No doubt she has a brilliant scheme, but for the time being she doesn't own them.

Me: Well, I can dream can't I? Anyway, wonder what she said…(opens envelope)

_Mez,_

_I think Tigger fancies U,_

_Lara's daughter._

Me: (O.M.G!)

* * *

I was really regretting travelling round with the group. Mainly because of Zelos, but some of my feeling were due to the fact that I could do the journey from Meltokio to Sybak in about half the time, from the air. I was used to being an eagle, hawk, falcon or owl, but here I was, on the ground like a duck. But even ducks can fly when they want to. I was below duck! I was below the thing that takes the centrepiece at Christmas dinner!

I then threw up. And because of that, we spent another five minutes not walking and standing around, fussing!

'_Today just isn't my day.'_ I thought to no-one in particular.

'_I know. I feel like becoming a wolf or something and I'd just leave them behind.'_ Stephen shared my sentiments.

'_Just don't think of any animal you've turned into, but eaten at one time.'_

'_That's the reason I avoid becoming livestock. If you had any sense…'_

'_Sorry, it's hard when you keep ducks in the back garden!'_

After my angry remark, I felt agonising pain in my legs, stopping me from moving. The pain spread to my arms, my back and my head until I was only dimly conscious. Somehow I realised that Stephen was feeling the same pain as me, and speaking as one we whispered hoarsely, "Naois." Then, I blacked out.

_I saw her - Naois. Standing on a tall mountain, which I could only assume was Fooji Mountain. A strong magical aura radiated from her. This was the source of my pain. The sight of her sent a shiver of disgust through my body. She looked in her early twenties; was very tall; with long, straight, black hair. She wore a long, slimming dark purple dress, which I knew matched her lipstick and eye colour. I jerked awake._

Raine was standing above me, looking occasionally to my side, where I realised Stephen was.

"I was unable to locate the reason why Nia and Stephen collapsed. Are they awake yet?"

I murmured feebly to let the group know that I was alive.

"Hey, Nia's awake!" Lloyd shouted. I groaned, realising that I was centre of attention again.

"Nia, have you got any idea what caused that to happen to you and Stephen?"

I realised I ached all over and simply moving hurt me in places I hardly knew could hurt. "Need…fire."

"What do you think she means, Professor?" Lloyd asked.

"I…don't know. My healing arts only have a limited affect on her." Raine sounded uncomfortable with the words 'don't' and 'know' in the same sentence.

'_Cyclone, I hurt all over and everyone's acting like idiots!'_ I screamed in my mind.

'_You need some help then? Super-dragon to the rescue!'_

I sighed mentally. Cyclone appeared and tried to tell them what I needed. But, no-one could understand him.

"Charades," I croaked.

Cyclone then held up three claws to symbolise three words. Then held the first claw to symbolise the first word. Then he pointed at me.

"Um…girl!" Lloyd shouted out.

Cyclone rolled his eyes. (Imagine a dragon rolling his eyes!)

"Half-elf!"

Cyclone shook his head and tugged at an 'ear'.

"Sounds like…"

Cyclone nodded and pointed to his 'ear' again.

"Sounds like ear? Oh, Nia!"

Cyclone nodded his head and held up the second claw. Then, he tugged at his 'ear' again.

"Sounds like?"

Cyclone picked up a Symphonian dandelion and pointed to it.

"Sounds like weed? Feed, seed?"

Cyclone shook his head at both.

"Need?"

He nodded.

"Okay, Nia need, Nia needs…"

Cyclone held up the third claw and I had the slight impression that he was enjoying himself. He then breathed a little fire out of his mouth and pointed to it.

"Fire? Nia needs fire? Are you sure?"

"Yes!" I attempted to shout, but it came out as a horse croak.

Cyclone disappeared back into my mind.

'Why didn't you just breathe fire on me!' I asked.

'I was afraid I'd hurt you. Dragon fire is slightly different from normal fire.'

I suddenly felt strength returning to me and realised that the group had used various methods of summoning fire. Zelos had used fireball, Lloyd used the Sorcerers ring, Raine had pinched my Sorcerers ring and had used it and Genis had used Eruption. Colette was still an emotionless angel and Stephen was in a similar state to me a minute ago.

"We should help Stephen. Where's the nearest water source?" I asked.

"Are you kidding me? We're on the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge." Zelos told me.

I picked Stephen up and threw him in the water. Izarax appeared, probably at Stephen's request.

"Stephen would like to thank you."

"Is that you or Stephen talking?" I asked.

"Okay, it is me who's thanking you. But he does want to know what you saw."

"We'll have to tell the whole group about Naois. It wouldn't be fair on them if they didn't know the danger. I just thought we'd be safe for a little while longer."

"Are you talking to that unicorn?" Raine asked.

Whoops, I forgot that they had never seen Izarax before. "Sorry, that was rude, wasn't it? Guys, meet Izarax. Although technically, Colette's already met him."

"Huh?" Lloyd was confused.

"He's the reincarnation of the unicorn at Lake Umacy."

"Wait, if he's a unicorn, how come Lloyd, Raine, Zelos and I can stand near it?" Genis asked.

"A good question, and one that I don't want to answer." Izarax disappeared after that remark.

"It sounds to me that he doesn't want to answer that question."

"Which just reminded me that you didn't answer our first question: what happened?" Genis asked.

"It's very tricky to explain, but I'll try my best. I collapsed because of a spell cast by Naois. Naois is a person who's trying to kill me and won't rest until I'm dead. That's the simplest way I could put it."

Stephen pulled himself out of the water as Raine asked, "Why is she trying to kill you?"

Stephen spoke. "She wants the power over the elements that we have. No one around us is safe. It would be unfair for us to stay here and put you in danger."

"What! You think we'd let you do that? If anything, you need more people around you, to protect you from this Naois person." Lloyd protested.

"You don't understand. Remember the fight with M-Yggdrasil? She's that bad now and for every day we spend here, she'll get stronger. Our only defence is to keep moving, and avoid confrontation. No offence Lloyd, but the group is heading rather slowly for my pace."

I heard five separate gasps as the group realised how strong Naois is. Raine was the first, closely followed by Genis and Zelos, then a gasp that I assumed was Lloyd, who had only just realised. However, I heard Lloyd's gasp several seconds later, which made me wonder who gasped. Stephen was already familiar with the knowledge, Colette was a lifeless angel, for now, so I looked around for the source.

'_Don't look now, but Kratos is flying ahead.'_ Cyclone informed me.

'_Did he hear about Naois? Was he the 'phantom gasper'?'_

'_Yes. Wait a minute…he's saying something. "Nia, if you can hear this, go and fly over the library in Sybak tonight."'_

'_I heard that! You aren't sneaking anywhere without me!'_ Stephen told me mentally.

'_Don't you dare follow me!'_

'_How are you going to stop me?'_

As an answer, I ran behind Stephen and touched his cape. "Would you look at that? It's morphanic material."

"Oh, no. Don't you dare…"

I made Stephen's cape disappear.

"You have no idea how long that took me!" He tried to bring his cape back, and succeeded, but with one minor flaw.

"Oh, no. It's pink!" Stephen practically screamed.

"What's wrong with pink?" Zelos asked, all thoughts of Naois completely forgotten.

"It's pink! Nia, change this back now."

"Why? It suits you. Although, your face needs to pale a bit, the red's starting to clash."

"Just turn the cape black again."

"Fine." I walked over to him and turned the cape black. "One condition though. I'll tell you later."

I looked around and everyone was staring at Stephen and me. "We'd better get moving, or we'll never get to Sybak before nightfall."

Everyone just looked incredulously at me.

"What? Is there something stuck on my face? Let's go." I managed to get the group moving.

Some time later, on the outskirts of Sybak, Genis started asking me some questions.

"How can Naois try to kill both of you if you have been in separate worlds?"

Uh-oh! "Um, beats me. Maybe she's got a Rheaird? Anyway, can we try not to speak too much about Naois?"

"Okay, sorry. What were you doing before you met us? We hardly know anything about your past."

"Well, I've been…travelling." It was true, all the different worlds I've been in, I've always kept moving. Technically, even moving from world to world would be travelling.

"Is it me, or is it getting dark?" Genis asked.

"It's getting darker. You can see some lights over there. I think it's Sybak." Although the light wasn't the electric glow of street lamps, the firelight was easily seen.

When I entered Sybak my first impression was that it wasn't too different from home. Most of the buildings were brick, I was convinced that the flag on the inn was the Travelodge symbol and the streetlamps looked fairly modern.

Since it was getting dark, the group decided to stay in the inn for the night. As usual, I didn't stay in and flew for a while before remembering Kratos' message. A dark silhouette greeted me.

"You're being followed." Was all he said.

I looked around with owl vision and spotted Stephen in the shadows.

'_I see you. I told you not to follow me.'_

'_How could you spot me? I was sure you'd never see me.'_

'_Nothing escapes owl vision in the dark.'_ I sighed. _'Come on, I know you want to meet Kratos.'_

Stephen teleported up onto the roof.

"Who's he?" Kratos asked.

'_Stephen; he controls water and earth.'_

"Your friend from the other world?"

"Wait just a minute, Kratos. Nia, you told him about the different worlds!" Stephen butted in, almost yelling in the silent night.

'_He was worried about Lloyd. He'd probably try to kill us both if he didn't know the truth.'_ I retorted. As an after thought I added, _'No offence, Kratos.'_

"You told him! You could have destroyed this whole world!"

'Like you're one to talk! Remember Agorned? Now, we're the only ones that'll ever remember Agorned.'

"I didn't mean to…It was our first world and neither of us knew better."

"What was Agorned?" Kratos asked.

'_It used to be a world, until we went in there and totally changed what should have happened. The world's natural course changed and it got destroyed. All memory of it vanished, except in us, as a warning.'_

"And you are scared that this may happen in Sylvarant and Tethe'alla?"

'_Yes. Please, don't tell anyone about there being more worlds than Sylvarant and Tethe'alla.'_ I asked.

"I won't. But there was a reason I asked you to come here. I heard you talking about Naois earlier, and how dangerous she is."

'_I think I can see where this is going.'_ I muttered.

"By being near Lloyd, you two are putting him in danger. You need to leave."

'Bingo.'

"What if we refuse?" Stephen asked.

'Stephen, listen to me. Earlier today, we were complaining about going slowly. Now that we're given the chance to 'fly free', you're refusing!'

"I guess…but there's safety in numbers. If we do get attacked, how are we going to defend ourselves?" Stephen was being sensible. (Knowing the 'real Stephen', that's scary!)

"I would be willing to help." Kratos suggested, surprising both of us.

'_Are you serious?'_ He didn't need to answer my question, as the look in his eyes were deadly serious. _'Don't you need to stay at Derris-Kharlan?'_

"I do sometimes need to go to Derris-Kharlan, but I can avoid it as much as possible, and when I do have to, you won't be noticed if you're in animal forms."

"Aren't here health and safety regulations or something?" Stephen was trying to find any possible fault in Kratos' plan.

"Mithos let me keep Noishe for almost four thousand years."

'_Wasn't that because Noishe was the last protozoan?'_

"Lloyd isn't the only one to think that Noishe is a dog."

"But Noishe is really big for a dog. Doesn't the fact that he's green give it away slightly?" Stephen, our expert on mammals, asked.

'_I don't know about you, but I'm taking Kratos' offer. After all, I promised to protect Lloyd, not endanger him.'_

"I'm going to trust you, but we're going to stay for just a few more days. We'll wait until Colette returns to normal first." Stephen decided.

"You should just leave, and try not to let them change your minds." Kratos advised.

'_No, we have to tell them. And every so often, I want to visit them.'_ I protested.

"Do what you will." Kratos had gone from caring father to mercenary mode.

'_We'll meet you…outside Meltokio in one and a half days roughly. But until then, do everything you would normally do.'_ I warned.

"I must go. Farewell." Kratos took off and flew using his angel wings.

'_How can he be that lucky? Just pull a pair of wings out and off you go. Not that I'm complaining.'_ I moaned.

"You know that he's suffered for them." Stephen said sombrely. (Stephen is going to be completely out of character for this fic!)

'Yeah. Shut up and look on the horizon.'

"Sunlight, big wow."

'_I mean: it's morning.'_

"We'd better see if they are up yet."

We left the roof and checked the inn.

* * *

I'm not a big fan of cliffhangers, but there will be some later on (you have been warned).

Sorry that I haven't mentioned this before, but I'm dedicating this space to my reviewers. I didn't have the chance before because I write my chapters ahead of posting them and can't edit them later.(not actually true, but I have limited internet time)Existing reviewers are appreciated, but I want to hear from those people who haven't yet clicked that blue button (I think it's blue!). I know you're out there. From Southampton to Seattle, I want to hear from you. (Emphasis on Seattle!)

Anything else of importance…I won't put replies to reviews on the chapter, but I will reply to all members' reviews.


	7. Halfelves

Me: Kira's back!

Kira: (looks wet and moody) Hi.

Me: What's the matter?

Kira: Your Caribbean cruise!

Me: Well, it was a cruise.

Kira: It was the Disney boat ride 'the Pirates of the Caribbean!'

Me: You have to love the movie though.

Kira: A little kid pushed me in the water!

Me: Any chance of a disclaimer?

Kira: You must be joking!

Me: Fine, I'll have to do the disclaimer. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, but the takeover happens in an hour.

(Hour later)

Me: No! Not the lawsuit!

* * *

I was feeling a little weak, since I hadn't touched any 'real' fire for what seemed like ages. I was standing in Sybak's university, listening to the reasons Colette was a soulless angel.

"…Both of these crystals are like parasites fusing with other life forms." The researcher droned on.

'_I'm sure this is interesting enough for the group, but after nearly memorizing the script by going through the game countless times, I'm bored!'_ I complained to Cyclone.

'_Well, why don't I give you a quiz?'_

'_Fair enough. I can answer any question you can give me.'_

'_Number one, what is Presea's surname?'_

'_Too easy. Combatir.'_

'_Question two, what is a protozoan, and I want details on evolutionary forms.'_

'_A protozoan is a creature that spends most of it's life evolving. It starts as a single-celled organism, and ends up as a human who exists to fight evil. Some of it's forms include the bird-like Areos; the fish, Aquan; and a dog-like Arshis._

'_Alright, if you're so clever, what are they going to have for dinner today?' _

'_How am I supposed to know? That's a horrible question.'_

'_So, you know everything that's going to happen, but don't know what's for dinner?' _Cyclone said smugly.

'_If you insist on rubbing it in, there'll be one less dragon in the world.' _I mock threatened.

"Maybe we can get a Key Crest around here somewhere." Lloyd ended the conversation and we went to find a Key Crest for Colette.

Five minutes later, we were in Sybak's town centre. I could see the Key Crest from here!

"Maybe we should try the shops." I subtly suggested.

"You're just obsessed with shopping." Stephen teased.

'_Have you forgotten where the Key Crest is?' _I asked mentally.

'_Yeah, so?'_

'_The Key Crest is on the junk stall, remember?'_

'_Oh…whoops.'_

"I still think we should try the shops." I insisted. Everyone ignored me.

Five minutes later, we'd found the Key Crest and got it for free with a bit of bartering. Lloyd needed to repair it as the charm was worn out. We were waiting in the University's main hallway for Lloyd.

Genis broke the silence. "Why did Cruix turn Colette into an angel?"

"They wanted her as Martel's vessel. They said so themselves." I said regretfully.

"But why are they trying to revive Martel?"

"I…" I started.

'_One more word and…'_ Stephen left the threat in mid-sentence.

"I don't know."

'_Why are they trying to revive Martel again?'_

'_You've forgotten! Martel is Mithos' sister.'_

'_Yeah, and?'_

'_You my friend are an idiom.'_

'_What's an idiom?'_

'_My word for idiot. Idiom really means a saying.'_

Lloyd came into the room.

"I didn't think I'd be giving your birthday present like this. I've attached the Key Crest to your necklace. It's late, but it's my present for you." Lloyd muttered as he gave Colette the Key Crest.

"Colette? Can you hear me?" Lloyd's concern went unanswered.

"How is it?" Genis asked.

"It's not working." Stephen said. "What's wrong with it?"

"The charm on the Key Crest looks very complicated. Lloyd could have messed up, or it simply won't work on Cruix Crystals." I pointed out.

"How about asking Dirk for help?" Raine suggested.

Genis was quick to find fault in his sister's plan. "But Dirk's in Sylvarant and the Rheairds are out of fuel."

"Maybe the people here at the academy might know of a way." Lloyd thought aloud.

"They would never help us. Remember that Zelos is supposed to stop us from going to Sylvarant." I said.

"Zelos is kind to girls, right?" Raine had the beginnings of a plan.

Genis cottoned on to his sister, "Yeah, it's to save Colette. You'll keep quiet about it for us, right?"

"Aw, great. How am I supposed to snitch after hearing that?" Zelos was trapped by his own personality.

"Okay, now all we need is fuel."

A group of Papal knights stepped out of the shadows behind the huge skeleton and surrounded our group.

Although they all looked identical, I assumed that the first one to speak was their leader. "Chosen. We heard what you said just now."

By this point I was cursing mentally, already knowing what would happen.

"We hereby declare you and your companions to be traitors attempting to destroy Tethe'alla."

"Well, that was perfect timing." Zelos said sarcastically.

"It's by the Pope's orders. We are to watch you for suspicions of plotting against the throne."

"Now that's amusing. I'm the one who's plotting against the throne?" Zelos put emphasis on the 'I'm'.

"Restrain them and take a sample. Don't touch the angel." The leader Papal knight ordered.

'_Which angel?'_ I thought, _'They have enough to choose from.'_ My remark drew sniggers from Cyclone.

One of the guards grabbed my hand and pressed a tube against one of my fingers. He pressed a button on the tube and a second after he'd taken the tube off my finger it ached and started bleeding. (The finger, not the tube!) He then put the blood off my finger into a tube with some kind of liquid in. The liquid turned bright, unnatural red. I could see everyone else's test tubes from here. Lloyd's, Zelos' and Presea's were crimson, the colour of their blood, whereas Raine's, Genis' and Stephen's were the colour of their mana signatures, their auras.

Lloyd complained about the blood test, but nothing was really done about it.

"Sir, we've found several matches." A guard piped up, referring to Raine, Genis, Stephen and I.

"What? Genis! Raine! But Nia said…" Lloyd began.

"I lied to help them. I'm sorry." I explained.

"Half-elves? Is that true?" Zelos accused. His hate for half-elves was understandable. I didn't know all the details, but his mother was killed by half-elves.

"That's right." Raine had given up trying to conceal it any longer. "There's no point in trying to hide it now." Raine whispered to herself.

"These pathetic half-elves have engaged in shameless caste deception." A guard announced.

"What did you say! The Professor, Genis, Nia and Stephen are much better people than you!" Lloyd was furious. "Who cares if they're half-elves?"

'_Yay! Go Lloyd! You tell 'em!' _I thought.

Zelos then explained how half-elves were the lowest rung on the ladder and how they are executed without exception if they are guilty of crimes. Lloyd thought that was crazy.

'_Too right! Time to liven this up a bit!'_ Stephen worried me with his words.

'_What are you up to?'_

'_You'll see.'_

'_Uh-oh, that's never good!'_

My sudden feeling of dread proved to be right. Stephen teleported up on to the platform above the skeleton.

'_Martel help you if ever I get my hands on you.' _I threatened, which didn't do any good.

"How did he get up there?" One of the guards asked.

"The same way as you're going to: up the stairs." Stephen said, pointing to the stairs.

The guard ran up the stairs quite slowly because of his armour. When he got to the top, Stephen teleported back down again.

"How did you get down there?"

"Simple, I jumped."

The guard stupidly jumped off the platform. Normally it wouldn't be high enough to do any damage, but the guard had a layer of chain mail on, underneath his plate armour. He dropped like a stone.

Stephen was then confident by his success and tried to bring the skeleton decorating the hallway to life. The dragon bones shuddered and roared then became still and lifeless once again.

"Just a little…tired." Stephen said before collapsing.

Apart from the guard that jumped off the platform, the Papal knights surrounded the half-elves and took us away. I knew that the humans would be taken to an underground laboratory where the half-elves worked and there they would 'stay'.

I also knew that Kate, one of the scientists, would let them out after finding out that Lloyd wanted to help his half-elf friends, namely, us. However, I couldn't tell Raine and Genis that. Right now, they believed that they we going to die.

It wasn't too bad until we got onto the bridge. The bridge seemed to last for miles…what am I saying? The bridge _was_ miles long. But the bridge was where the guards started to taunt us.

"So, you're a pretty little thing, aren't you?" The remark was directed at Raine.

As a reply, she supported her weight by leaning back on the guard behind her, and kicked the idiom knight in the head. Unfortunately he was wearing armour on the head.

"Metal is a very good conductor of heat. Unless you want third degree burns all across your body, you will leave my friends alone." I threatened.

"We've got a couple of violent girls here. Still, they're better sport than the two boys."

I realised that Stephen hadn't said a word since he had collapsed.

"Stephen, are you still conscious? Can you hear me?" I asked, worried about him.

'_I'm fine. I just ache all over.'_

"Thank goodness for that." I noticed that Genis and Raine were looking curiously at me. "He's alive. That's why I said thank goodness."

"Well, it doesn't really mean a lot if we're going to die at Meltokio!" Raine started off angry, but trailed a little after die.

"Don't say things like that, sis. We're going to be fine." Genis insisted.

"Fat chance, runt. Enjoy your day, it'll be your last." A guard taunted.

'_Cyclone, do you know any words to describe these…things? It makes me sick to call them human.'_ I asked.

'_Try yerui – a devil ghost that lives only to destroy.'_

'_Thank you.'_

Before anyone else had a chance to speak the guards had given the order for the bridge to be raised. I strained my neck to look backwards for the humans who should have caught up by now. From what I could see, they hadn't.

'_Stephen, let's give them some trouble.'_

He just groaned.

"Raine, can you…" I struggled for a way to communicate with Raine, without alerting our captors of my plan. "make use of one's mana to use techniques discovered by Boltzman, on Stephen?"

'_What on earth did you say?'_ Stephen asked.

'_I asked her to heal you.' _

Raine got my 'code' and began casting First Aid. With Stephen at full power, we could create some problems.

'_Remember, delay, not defeat. Got it?'_

'_Yeah, sure, whatever. Let me kick some butt!' _

'_I have a bad feeling about this. Okay, Cyclone, I need a distraction.'_

Cyclone appeared from that mystical place, 'wherever-guardians-appear-from' and swiped at the guard nearest me. Stephen got the message and summoned Izarax.

Not to brag, but we could have defeated those knights between the two of us. It was only the fear of changing events in this world that prevented us from doing so.

Once momentarily freed from my guards, I prepared to fight and summoned fire to my hands. The nearest knight rushed at me, leaving Genis completely unguarded. I dodged round the knight to try and hit his weak spot, the leather guard on his back. However, the knight was protecting his back well, and was starting to fight with his pikestaff. The blows were easy to dodge, so we were at stalemate. Neither of us could attack the other.

A voice shouted up suddenly, "Want a charge?"

I laughed, knowing what came next.

"Spark Wave!" Genis cast the thunder spell.

A sphere of electricity surrounded the papal knight.

"Mary had a little lamb…" Stephen started and grinned.

"She put it on a pylon," I continued.

"A thousand volts shot up it's bum,"

"And turned it into nylon!" (Sorry, but I just had to put this in!)

I heard the mechanical groan of the bridge being drawn up. My eye's scanned the top for a glimpse of red. I got whacked on my side by a pikestaff and fell over. One of the guards had obviously noticed my attention wandering from the battle and taken advantage of it.

I jumped back on my feet and kicked the offending knight in the helmet, which drove him back by about two millimetres. This was so unfair. Me, with absolutely no armour or weapons, against a trained papal knight, with a huge metal axe-on-a-stick, not to mention the three layers of steel armour!

So when the twin swordsman joined the fight, I was more than slightly relieved. Lloyd slashed the knight in the back, then used tempest, launching himself upwards, spinning. The guard didn't get up after that.

The other guards had already been defeated by the combined forces of Raine, Genis, Presea, Zelos, Colette and…

'_Sheena? Wow, I'd forgotten that she'd rejoined the group at Syback.' _Stephen said.

'I knew you weren't that intelligent, but really…' 

"Lloyd! Everyone!" Genis shouted, running up to the humans.

"You came to rescue us." Raine had a hint of doubt in her voice.

"Thanks." I added.

"What took you so long?" Stephen asked. I glared at him.

"Of course we'd rescue you. You're our friends." Lloyd said confidently, ignoring Stephen.

"But, we're half-elves." Genis protested.

"And?" Lloyd obviously didn't mind.

"What about the Tethe'alla half of our group? Do you mind if we join up with you?" Raine asked.

I already knew the answer.

Sheena said, "I'm from Mizuho. We're not exactly mainstream either. We're not that different."

'_Besides, she's got elven blood.' _I thought aloud.

'_She has?'_ Stephen was bewildered.

'_Keep up.'_

It was Zelos' turn next. (They all speak on cue…scary.)

"To tell you the truth, I can't say I'm really kosher with this." (I don't want any reviews about kosher food! We did that in RE!) "Then again, people have always treated me differently, saying that I'm a descendent of angels, so in a way we're a lot alike."

"I just want to go home." Presea said in that tiny voice that made her sound fragile and lonely. It's hard to think of a person wielding a giant axe as fragile!

"I see. All right then." Raine was almost too stunned to speak, she actually believed her friends would just shun her because of her blood.

"By the way, why is Sheena here?" Genis asked.

"I have orders from my chief. I'm supposed to observe your activities."

"That's typical of Mizuho. They're trying to decide if they should side with the king or you guys." Zelos commented.

"So now we have two people keeping tabs on us." Genis, again.

"But I'm not trying to do anything or get in your way or anything! So…" Sheena trailed off. It was hard to believe that at one time, she'd tried to kill Colette.

"We know that already. You're an honest person, perhaps to a fault." Raine. (Will everyone quit talking!)

"At this point, I'm okay with anything." Lloyd smiled. "Now we just need Sheena to form a pact with Volt and we can get the Rheairds working!"

Sheena gasped. "Volt!"

"Sheena?" Presea asked, still not displaying many signs of life, but better off than Colette.

Sheena's childhood kicked in. "Ah, nothing."

"Shouldn't we go and get the Rheairds first?" Zelos asked.

"Yes, but shouldn't we rest first too? I have a feeling…" I began.

'_You've said too much, just warn them off and don't tell them Pronyma is up that mountain, whatever you do.'_ Cyclone said.

"Yeah, we shouldn't get the Rheairds just yet. This is the perfect place to stay the night and relax, you know?" Stephen rescued.

"Sure, we could all do with the rest."

And that's how we almost destroyed Symphonia for the second, but not the last, time.

* * *

Reviews! I am the all mighty review monster, who needs them to sustain her writing! I know that there are people out there, not reviewing. Around 160 hits and only three reviews? 5 people have put into favourites! I really want to hear from the non-reviewers so far. Also, if any members can tell me where to find anon. reviews block, I'd appreciate it, because right now, I don't know whether it's on or not!

Also, I know about most of the mythology. (Yggdrasil, Asguard, Vidarr, Idun, Heimdall Norse; mana Hebrew for 'what is it?'; etc) But if anyone can tell me where Naois is from I'll,

Be impressed (although you could just search on the 'net…damn!) and

Give you a plate of imaginary cookies! (any flavour!)

I'm starting the next chapter right now.


	8. The first confrontation

Me: Before I get any complaints, this chapter will be short and it's meant to be short, okay? Kira's sulked off somewhere, leaving me to do the disclaimer. You've heard right? I don't own Tales of Symphonia or Namco. I am trying my best. Actually, Bandai and Namco are merging! So now it'll be even harder…(throws night-vision goggles, suction cups, etc. in to a convenient bin)

* * *

It began to rain in the early evening. Knowing my luck, it wouldn't be long before a full on storm hit us. I changed the morphanic material into some waterproof fake skins. At least I was dry.

Lightning flashed in the distance, followed by a crack of thunder.

'_I knew it was going to become a storm. Just for me!' _I said mentally, as everyone apart from Stephen and I were asleep.

Actually, Colette was awake, because she was a soulless angel right now and the rest of the group kept waking up every odd hour.

'_The world doesn't do things just to spite you.'_ Cyclone tried to get me to see sense.

'_How else do you explain a storm hitting, just on the day that we have no tree cover or we're not staying indoors!'_

'_I can't get through to you, can I?'_

'_Nope, Nia's really stubborn when it comes to points like this.'_ Stephen joined our conversation.

'_Shut up, Shellymonk.' _

'_Shellymonk?'_ Izarax asked.

'It was so funny! Stephen had been swimming in the water as a turtle, but when he came out of the water, he wanted to be a monkey. He tried to change forms straight from turtle to monkey, and he panicked! He ended up as this weird monkey with a shell!'

'_Now everyone calls me that to annoy me, but only Nia knows where it comes from.' _Stephen was glaring at me.

Silence seemed to devour every noise: the rain falling, the thunder cracking, even the wind's whistle. I was unnerved by the eerie, ominous silence. I couldn't see anything, but I had a strong feeling something was wrong.

'Do you sense something weird?' I asked.

'I don't…I don't think so.'

'Maybe it's just me paranoid but I could've sworn…' Out of the corner of my eye, I could see something moving.

I threw weak fire at the movement in the shadows to illuminate the area. I saw…

I was about to scream, to wake up the group, but my voice had been cut off from either fear or magical powers. 'Stephen, wake everyone up. Naois is here.'

I surrounded Naois with a ring of fire, desperately hoping it would buy some time. However, it was still raining and the fire was impossible to keep going for more than three seconds. It was just enough though, to wake the whole group.

"So this is Naois, huh?" Lloyd asked.

"Yes, be careful. A fight may be unavoidable." Both Stephen and I were wary, knowing what she was capable of.

"A fight? She hasn't even got a weapon!" Zelos remarked.

"Don't give her ideas! She's strong enough without one!"

Naois broke up our chat.

"Children, why do you speak of fighting?" She softened her voice to sound quiet and fragile.

"Because we shall not let you harm our friends."

"Why would I hurt them?" Naois was manipulating the group, lying to them.

I was stuck for what to say, which was of course, the whole purpose of the lie.

"You are the real deceiver, sabotaging your so called friends."

"No, they would never do that! You're lying." Lloyd, normally dull-witted, was always first to stand up for his friends.

"It may interest you to know that they have been talking to someone. I didn't catch the name, but he was tall, dressed in purple and had two turquoise wings." Naois smiled, knowing her information would seriously impact the group.

"No, that's not true…is it?" Lloyd asked, not accused.

Although I wanted to protest and say it wasn't true, my eyes betrayed the truth.

"Why?" Raine's voice was layered with hurt.

"I…can't say."

"Why not? What could possibly be so bad that you have to lie about it?"

"I promised him something, and before you ask, I can't say what it was. It wasn't anything to do with sabotaging the journey, I promise."

"And how can we be sure that you're telling the truth?"

"You can't. Believe me or not as you will." I noticed that Naois had disappeared and the rain was getting lighter.

"We need to leave soon, Nia. Is it worth trying to explain and then accidentally letting something slip?" Stephen warned.

"What could you accidentally let slip?" Raine's eye's were narrow.

I had a choice of answers for that one. There was:

Could reveal who Lloyd's father is,

Could reveal who Yggdrasil is,

Could say who Zelos is working for,

Could reveal that I'm not exactly 'local',

Could say exactly what would happen at the mountain top, right down to the last, Colette tripping detail.

I just said, "Nothing," In a fake, cheery voice.

Stopping my mouth from destroying Symphonia just got a whole lot harder.

* * *

That was a titchy chapter for me. (I'm so ashamed, #sob#)

I'm giving silent reviewers one last chance and then I'm naming and shaming them. And yes I do know who you are.

Please review. Pretty please? With one of those tasty cherries on top? And I appologise in advance for the delay in the next chapter, I'm struggling with some writers block.


	9. Goodbye

**Me:** Will the non-reviewers be named and shamed? It all depends on if they review while I'm writing this chapter…

**Kira:** Why don't you just private message them?

**Me:** That is a possibility, but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance.

**Kira:** Yeah, nice to everyone but her own muse, that's you.

**Me:** Fine, I'll give you a ToS character doll for every disclaimer.

**Kira:** (starts jumping up and down, cartwheels etc.) Yay! I'd do it!

**Me:** Which one do you want this time?

**Kira:** Kratos! Mez10000 does not own Tales of Symphonia or Namco. If she did 'Nia' would appear in Tales games, Baten Kaitos and Soul Calibur. OMG! It would be a Nia epidemic! And I'm really hyper 'cause Yuan appears in this chapter. Yay, Yuan!

* * *

At first I was afraid that the group would shun Stephen and I, and there wouldn't be any chance of gaining back their trust. However, now I was scared that we wouldn't be able to meet Kratos. The group were watching us closely. We had absolutely no chance of leaving without escaping and completely ruining any trust we could have.

'_How are we going to meet Kratos?'_ I was afraid to speak aloud, as the only time a member of the group didn't have their eyes on me, was when they were on Stephen.

'_What do I look like? A genius? How am I supposed to know?'_

'_Fine, just wondering if you had any idea whatsoever.'_

'_We could just leave. I can change into a mouse, who'd see me in the dark?'_

'_But we'd have no way of them trusting us until the whole Altessa scene. You know, "Lloyd, I am your father!" and then there's the "Nooooo!"'_

'_It didn't go like that! It was more, Yuan saying 'Right, Kratos, release the seal or your son gets it!'_

'_And what does this have to do with anything? You're supposed to be thinking of ways to get them to trust you that can be done in this one day!'_ Cyclone interjected.

'_Maybe we can save their hides at Mount Fooji?'_ Izarax suggested.

'_But they don't need saving. They'll survive.'_ I hate finding flaws in otherwise brilliant plans.

'_I know that, and you know that, but they don't know that.'_

I sighed._ 'Fine. I'm not exactly happy with this, but it's the best possible way.'_

'_So now all we need to do is wait until we get to the mountain.'_

I could see the mountain range, not too far into the distance. I turned to face the wind. Instantly five pairs of eyes looked in my direction, reminding me that I was trapped.

'_All we need to do is get to the mountain, right? Sure we don't need to end world hunger or something equally impossible?'_

Sometime later we had hiked up the mountain in almost complete silence. Zelos had called everyone round to see his 'secret weapon'.

(A/N The wing pack for the Rheairds, in case you'd forgotten)

I was so nervous. What if this raised some awkward questions? What if it changed what was supposed to happen?

'_Okay, plan time. When they get trapped, what are we going to do?'_ I asked.

'_I thought you came up with the plan!'_

'_This was not my idea! Anyway, I suggest we wait for Pronyma to appear and keep it as close as possible to the original script.'_ All the while I was thinking extremely negative thoughts about the whole plan.

The trap activated, startling me. I fell backwards, away from the trap.

I quickly got up and hid behind one of the large rocks. Stephen just teleported out of the trap. I can always get him back for that later…

Yuan stepped forward. "You've walked right into my trap, fools!"

The whole group just turned towards Zelos.

"He just called you a fool." Lloyd pointed out.

"Zelos…is clumsy." Presea stated.

Conflicting emotions flashed onto Zelos' face, but he hid them from most of the group, who were now focusing on how to get out.

Yuan gave an order to two of his men to retrieve the Rheairds. As these Renegades are more or less faithful to the grave, (Remember Botta…sob) they carried out his order.

After more evil villain talk form Yuan, Pronyma appeared. Now, I've always known that her fashion sense was bad, but honestly, who has green hair, wears far too much purple eye shadow and dresses in red and blue?

"Lord Yuan? What brings you to this place?" If Pronyma's question startled Yuan, he didn't show it.

"I should ask you the same, Pronyma. The role of the you Desians is to wreak havoc on the declining world." Yuan calmly replied.

'_Wow, Yuan's really keeping his cool. I mean, if Mithos works out what Yuan's been doing…'_ I thought to no-one.

I received several quiet murmurs in reply.

"I have come here on Lord Yggdrasil's order to retrieve Colette. Please turn her over to me." Pronyma, I noticed was one of the only people in Cruix to call Colette by her name. Kratos calls her 'Chosen', Mithos calls her Martel's vessel and Yuan…does Yuan even mention her?

Yuan tried his luck bargaining with Pronyma. Basically, 'You have Colette, but I'm keeping Lloyd'. It wasn't until then that I realised how annoying that trap is. It kept making a high-pitched wailing noise.

Pronyma walked over to Colette. "What is this? Why is there such a crude Key Crest upon the Cruix Crystal? I shall remove this ugly thing at once." Pronyma reached for the Key Crest.

'_Now!'_ Stephen shouted.

I couldn't move for a second, I was so shocked. I regained myself, and blasted the little mechanism for the trap.

"That shut it up!" I was referring to the high-pitched the trap made.

After that, everything happened at once. Colette regained her soul and drove Pronyma back with her chakrams. Everyone was amazed that Lloyd's Key Crest worked and Colette tripped over the mechanism of the ex-trap.

"Whoops!" It was interesting how Colette's whole personality could be expressed in one word.

As everyone was marvelling at the fact that they had Colette back, only Raine could see Pronyma rushing towards them, preparing for a fight.

(Why does everyone want to fight? I can't write fight scenes!)

"Behind you!" Raine's shout alerted them all.

They each drew their respective weapons. Raine and Zelos stayed behind, both casting spells. Lloyd, Presea, Stephen and I moved into front line position. Pronyma instantly cast Agarazium, which hit Raine into the air. I was within fire hurling distance, so I hurled some fire. Presea slashed with her axe a lot, which should have knocked her out cold, given the size of that thing.

Pronyma used Leonazium, creating a spirit like lion that knocked us all back through the air. I back-flipped in mid-air and landed gracefully on my feet, due to the little power I had over the air. Then I went straight back in for the attack. Pronyma cast Dark Sphere on me, which held me in one place, while magical shards of darkness entered me.

I pulled back and summoned Cyclone. Cyclone stayed in the air and told me to pull everyone back. I shouted the command to get away from her, and Cyclone breathed a pillar of fire onto Pronyma. However, she remained seemingly unhurt.

'_What exactly did that do?'_ I asked.

'_Dragon's fire doesn't burn flesh, it burns mana. Pronyma has hardly got any mana left for casting spells.'_

'_Are you serious?'_

I couldn't wait for a reply, as Pronyma had started casting a water spell, by the look of her magic circle.

"Uh-oh." I was desperately trying to think of what water spells Pronyma knows, and how wide spread they are.

"Fools…Aqua Laser." Okay, this wasn't **so** bad, a wall of water, only about seven foot tall, headed straight for me!

It was getting closer, and more menacing every second. I was frozen in fear. The water changed its direction. Eventually, it hit Stephen, who must have been manipulating it.

Pronyma stopped casting spells, as she sensed her mana was low. With no means of inflicting pain on people, besides her mini-staff, she gave up and flew off.

Lloyd, not realising that everyone was weak from the battle, opened his mouth. "This is the perfect opportunity! Yuan, I'm going to settle our score right now!"

Luckily, Lloyd's guardian angel ran in. At the time, Lloyd didn't really appreciate it though.

"Kratos, what are you doing here?" Yuan asked.

Kratos sounded very bored, "Leave Yuan. Lord Yggdrasil has summoned you." But there seemed to be something in his voice that suggested he meant something more like: 'Leave, Yuan. And if you touch a hair on my son's head, I'll run you through with the Flamburge.'

"Are you taking the Chosen?" Yuan **does **refer to Colette.

"No, we shall leave her for now. It's the toxicosis." Colette was already beginning to crystallize at this point? Interesting…although not exactly nice for Colette.

Yuan's face betrayed the slightest emotion as he remembered Martel's disease. "I see. Lloyd, our battle will have to wait."

Yuan flew off in the general area of the Tower of Salvation (which has the initials ToS, same as the game title…)

Lloyd was disappointed that he couldn't fight Yuan.

"What are you doing?" Kratos asked.

"What?"

"Why have you come all the way here to Tethe'alla?" Kratos was the slightest little bit annoyed.

"Not that it is your business, but it just…happened." I was trying to sound as hostile as possible.

"Well, no matter." Kratos turned to take flight.

"Wait! Is it true that you spoke to Nia the other night?" Lloyd asked.

"What of it?"

I inspected my fingernails. "Kratos, he asked you a question. A simple yes or no would do."

Without a word, the seraph flew off.

"Charming, isn't he?" I said. As normal, everyone ignored me and turned to Colette.

"Thanks for getting us out of the trap, Colette," Lloyd thanked.

"What!" I was the one who burnt that thing, not Colette!

"Hey!" Everyone just ignored me.

'_So much for your brilliant plan, Cyclone. So, how do we get away now?' _Stephen asked.

'_My suggestion is that we forget any chance of them trusting us and leave them at Meltokio sewer. Are you okay with that?'_ I asked.

'_What choice do we have? One way or another, we're leaving.' _

After Colette had been welcomed backwe started to head towards Meltokio.

"Um, Lloyd?" Lloyd looked behind him, in my direction.

"What is it?"

"You wouldn't be angry if me and Stephen left, would you?" It took a lot of courage to ask that question.

"Why would I be? You've proven yourself time and time again as our friend. We know that you'd never try to hurt us."

"Thanks, Lloyd." I gave the swordsman a big hug.

Lloyd just blushed and Zelos cried, "Why does he have all the luck?"

Sheena hit Zelos over the head, hard.

"Oww, Shee-na." Zelos whinged.

It hit me how much I'd miss these guys if I went. But I knew from experience that I'd just draw Naois to them and make their lives much more difficult, if not shorter.

"Why did you ask all of a sudden?" Lloyd asked after he'd recovered from the hug.

"I need to keep you safe, all of you. If I stay, Naois will tear you apart. She manipulates people, and if that doesn't work, she uses a kind of magic, which is really painful. I know from experience."

"We'd protect you and Stephen. Please, don't go."

"I promised. I always keep my promises."

"Who did you promise? Why do they want to protect me?"

"I'm sorry." I refused to say any more.

"Why can't you tell me?" Lloyd raised his voice and the groups attention was firmly on me and Lloyd.

I griped myself mentally, to force me not to shout. "I don't trust myself to speak. A word, one word, that slips out of my mouth could destroy everything. I cannot answer your questions."

He was shocked. "One word? How? Why? Who are you?"

"Stephen?" I asked. He knew exactly what I meant.

"Don't you dare! We've got to leave, right now. You have got so close, you might as well have kissed Symphonia goodbye."

"Goodbye." I whispered.

I changed into a sparrow, mainly for quick take off, and manoeuvrability. Stephen had turned into a wolf, knowing that he could out run anybody in pure speed, and could keep going for hours.

I took off, flapping like my life depended on it. The further I got away from them, the more it felt like I was yanking out a piece of my heart. I heard the steady thud of paws beneath me, Stephen trotting along. I landed on a nearby branch to change from a sparrow to an eagle. I always felt vulnerable as a smaller bird.

It wasn't long before we got to Meltokio. I saw Kratos long before he saw me. I landed on a tree and changed back into human.

"Kratos, we should have listened to you. We should have left that night without telling them." Stephen had teleported next to me, as a human (half-elf, whatever) as I finished speaking.

"What happened?" It wasn't a curious request, more of an order.

"Naois told them that we'd spoken to you. Now, they don't trust us." Stephen glumly said.

"I see. I-" Kratos was cut of by a series of electronic chimes from his belt.

"Wait a minute." He unhooked the device from his belt and flipped it open. I could make out Yuan's face on the screen.

'_Cool it's a video phone!'_ Stephen thought.

"What precisely did Yggdrasil summon me for?" Yuan's face looked a little angry.

"If you really believed that-"

"It was a lie to get me away from Lloyd? I though he really did need me!" Yuan shouted. There was some slight distortion from the speaker.

"Is that all? I have some urgent matters that need attending to."

"Not too busy for Yggdrasil I hope." Yuan smirked. "Apparently, he wants to see_ you_. Now. I checked."

"Fine." Kratos pressed a button on the communicator to hang up.

"It would be best not to keep Yggdrasil waiting. I plan on leaving as soon as possible."

I made out a group of black dots on the horizon. "What a coincidence, so do we."

"We do?" Stephen asked.

"The group, they're on the horizon."

While we were talking, Kratos had already pulled out his wings. "If you're coming, I'd suggest today as a leaving time."

"We're flying, right?"

"Teleporting." Kratos didn't really seem in a good mood. (When does he ever?)

Stephen and I got within striking distance of Kratos and Mr. Moody teleported us all to Derris-Kharlan. It was only halfway through the teleport that I remembered to take a bird form. I quickly changed into the first, 'pet' bird I could think of.

I was small; I could perch on someone's finger easily. I had white feathers and an orange-red bill. For some reason I had turned into a zebra finch.(Honestly, that was the first bird I thought of!) The bright white light subsided and I had my first glimpse of Derris-Kharlan.

* * *

I'm ending there! For the regular readers: I really wish that I'd made things easier for myself. They don't trust Nia, then they do and now they don't again. To the invisible reviewers…meh, I'll PM you. Or not. (Probably not!)

This space is dedicated to three people.

First, laras daughter. Without her this wouldn't be up on the Internet right now, so thank you, Mazzy.

Second (and third), TWS and Co. Thanks for reading this, even when you have absolutely no idea who the characters are. Thank you for the feedback. (and you **will **review sometime **this **week, right?)

If you enjoyed this chapter, (heck, if you enjoyed this whole fic) please review. If you hated it…at least tell me what's so bad about it. And I'm probably going to mention more reviewers, because they are what keep me writing when I'm stuck for ideas.


	10. Derris Kharlan part 1

Me: Chapter 10! Double figures! Two chapters ago I would have never thought that I'd get this far. I have a nasty habit of abandoning unposted fanfics.

Kira: What's kept you going?

Me: The reviewers. I know it sounds corny but I would have given up about five chapters ago if I didn't know that people were reading.

Kira: That, and the fact that laras daughter would kill you if you didn't carry on.

Me: Right. Well, I need a disclaimer. Kira?

Kira: Mez10000 doesn't own Tales of Symphonia. She only owns a copy of the game and Nia, Stephen, Cyclone, Izarax and Naois.

Me: Thank you. Which doll do you want this time?

Kira: Mithos!

Me: You have a thing for angels, don't you? (Gives a Mithos doll)

Kira: Yay, now I can practice voodoo!

Me: (Anime sweatdrop)

* * *

Either I was very small, or Derris-Kharlan was very big. As the thought went through my head, I reminded myself that I was still a finch. I had perched on Kratos' shoulder. Stephen was a small, fast dog trotting at Kratos' heels.

Kratos first walked towards the warp to Mithos' castle. An angelic guard stopped him.

"Lord Yggdrasil is busy. He does not want interruptions. If you have an appointment, I suggest you wait."

"How long has Lord Yggdrasil said he will be?"

"Lord Kratos, he told me not to let anyone through for all of this day."

Kratos turned swiftly and made his way through Derris-Kharlan. Many corridors later, he stopped at a computer terminal and pressed some buttons.

'_What are you doing? What's going to happen?'_ Stephen asked.

"I'm inputting a sequence that will change the destination of the warp pad. It will be redirected to the second level of Derris-Kharlan. That is where the Seraphim quarters are, as well as training facilities and other essentials." Kratos muttered.

'_In English, please?'_ Stephen asked again.

'_Kratos is redirecting the warp pad. Also, Kratos has no idea of the existence of English or England.'_ I explained.

'_Oh. So, we're staying the night?'_

"I would assume that would be obvious at this point."

'_Hey! What exactly are you inferring?'_

'_Stephen, he's not inferring anything. He's_ **_implying_** _that you're stupid.'_

'_Take his side, why don't you?'_

'_Thanks, I already had!'_

"How do I get myself into these situations?" Kratos asked thin air as he stepped onto the warp.

We were in a corridor with doors on either side. Kratos counted two doors on the right and opened the door. It was a fairly small room, with only a bed, desk and lamp.

"Since it seems like we'll have to get on with each other for a while, I feel I'm entitled to some answers. Then again, I am aware that these answers could destroy Symphonia, so I won't press you for the answers." Kratos sounded much more casual than normal.

(A/N Kratos is IC! Now watch it all fall apart…)

'_Alright, ask away.'_

"What is your world like? How different is it?"

'Hmm, we rely on electricity a lot. Electricity is what we call Volt's mana. But, there aren't any Summon Spirits. To keep the world's natural balance in check there are guardians of the elements. Of course, most people in our world either don't know this, or believe it to be a myth.'

'_Nia, you left out one important detail; who the guardians are.'_

'_Fine. Kratos, we're the guardians.'_ I said as casually as possible.

Kratos' mouth was slightly open.

"You are equivalent to the Summon Spirits?"

'_So?'_

"You just don't seem…how you would expect a higher power to act."

'Don't let Stephen's intelligence mislead you. Anyway, Gnome is really annoying. He has got to be less 'Summon Spirit-like' than us.'

"True. My second question isn't really a question. I need to know more about Naois."

'_Will you be taking this one, or shall I?'_ I asked Stephen.

'_You.'_ Was the instant answer.

'_You need to understand that once, Stephen and I were a little overconfident in our powers. Neither of us knew where Naois came from. At the time, she just expressed a strong dislike of us for no apparent reason. The first time we came head to head ended in her running away to a different world. Then we made our first mistake and followed her.'_ My emotions were shown heavily in my voice, as I clearly remembered that event.

'She had lead us to her own world. It was pitch black and neither of us could see a thing besides Naois and ourselves. We couldn't even see each other. She tormented us. Without speaking a word, she filled her world with a sound that was, for me, unbearable. A drop of water falling. At first, it didn't bother me, I couldn't feel the water, so I regarded it as a joke. But as time goes on there is only the drip of the water. You may think its laughable, but that drip of water was the most effective form of torture.'

"It is one of Mithos'…Yggdrasil's torture methods too." Kratos spoke. "One of his favourites, as it doesn't physically harm the person you are torturing."

'_That more or less sums it up. Anyway, what are we going to do for the rest of today?'_

"There is the combat training area just down the hall." Kratos suggested.

'_I can't believe that we never get to see this level of Derris-Kharlan. It's awesome!'_ Stephen said.

'_Kratos, what if we get caught?'_ I asked.

"Mithos is busy in a meeting. Yuan is elsewhere; for some reason he's been spending less and less time here. And no-one else has the fifteen digit security code."

Ten minutes later

We were in a fairly large room, about the size of a sport hall. Various wooden and blunt weapons lined the walls.

"So, Kratos? You going to teach us some cool fight moves or what?" Both Stephen and I had taken our half-elven forms.

"I can see why Kratos couldn't believe that we are element users." I sighed.

Sometimes, working with Stephen could be grating.

"Choose your weapon." Kratos reluctantly said.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Kratos."

"No, the more you prepare for oncoming fights, the better."

Stephen had already run up to one of the walls, looking at some short swords that could be passed off for daggers.

"Nia, your weapon?" Kratos pressed.

"I always prefer hand-to-hand combat."

"Haven't you ever used a weapon?"

"Once or twice I've used a bow and arrow, although it wasn't in a fight. The best thing about hand-to-hand combat is that it's hard to lose your weapons."

"Fine. We shall start with the basics…" Stephen groaned at Kratos' words. "First, I want you to go from relaxed to alert. When I say so, draw your weapon."

The first time Kratos shouted "Now!" I got into a fighting stance and summoned some fire. A second later, Stephen drew the two daggers from his side and shoulder. This wasn't acceptable, according to Kratos. We practiced a couple of times until eventually…

"Now!" Kratos shouted.

Stephen's hands whipped to his daggers and pulled them out, bringing himself to a fighting position. However, he didn't keep hold of the dagger in his right hand, which went flying towards Kratos. He did what any sane human would do and duck. The dagger landed with a thud in one of the walls.

"Whoops."

After a little more practice (with safety covers on the daggers), Stephen had it perfect. Then Kratos started some basic techniques. For safety reasons, we couldn't all practice at once, so first it was Stephen against Kratos. Stephen wasn't happy.

"Me, against Kratos? It's not fair!" He complained.

"He's not going to hurt you."

"Him, hurt me? As if. I'm just concerned for Kratos."

"I wouldn't worry. It's not often that you find someone who has been practising swordplay for four thousand years."

Stephen gulped.

"You know, it is customary to face the person you're fighting." I pointed out.

Stephen turned, and saw Kratos in a fighting stance. He got his own daggers out.

"Begin."

Stephen thrust at Kratos with his right dagger. Kratos blocked the blow, moving his sword as little as he could. Kratos tried to return the blow, but Stephen teleported out of the way, emerging behind him. Stephen hit Kratos with the flat of his blades.

"I win!" Stephen triumphantly said.

"You cheated. Kratos could have easily cast Judgement if you were both using techs."

Stephen and I had a little 'debate' about who won, while Kratos swore never to teach again. (Don't all teachers do this once a day?)

A mechanical whir drew my attention upwards.

"Kratos, what is that?" I asked, pointing at a spot high up in the ceiling.

"Looks like an air vent." Stephen butted in.

"Quite. It is part of Derris-Kharlan's ventilation system."

"I feel a movie cliché coming on…"

Minutes later, I was crawling through the air vent, alone. Stephen flat out refused to come and Kratos stayed with him. I heard the Mission Impossible theme tune running through my mind.

I came to a slight problem. The shaft went straight up.

I changed into a bird, not realising what the strong air current would do. I was blown straight upwards, to Martel-knows-where, in Derris-Kharlan.

I stopped myself from being blown around by turning human again. I had conveniently stopped by an air vent opening, so I looked through. Voices drifted through from below.

"If you keep your end of our bargain, I'll keep mine." I identified the voice as Yggdrasil's.

From my viewpoint, I could see that he was talking to a screen, but his body obscured most of it, so I couldn't see who he was talking to.

"I just have to deliver Colette to you, and you'll make Seles the Chosen?" I recognised the voice, making my heart sink. The slightest movement from Yggdrasil earned me a glimpse of red hair.

I realised, unhappily, that I had witnessed the moment when Zelos betrays the group. Disgusted, I tried to find my way back to the training room. Although it took me a while, I firmly memorised my route, knowing that it could become handy.

* * *

Another short chapter. I am really sorry, and I have a lot of ideas for Derris-Kharlan and some miscellaneous ( Thank God for Word's spell check!) events, but there will be a jump in the timeline soon, because I really want to get to the sequel. I'm planning a Kranna fic (I'm a diehard Kranna fan!) and a Presea&OC fic (Pregal, yuck and Gesea can be all right…), but I don't trust myself to do anything with those because I know I'll abandon this fic, and betray the trust of you guys.

Sorry if this, and the last chapter, was a little bit Stephen bashing, but I'm going to make up for it. Just be patient.

I have been squeezing people I know for ideas and apart from Jana and 'the-real-Stephen' I haven't had anything but doom and gloom for Kratos! Any ideas anyone?

By the way, if you actually read all the way through this, please review.


	11. Derris Kharlan part 2

Me: I'm back!

Kira: She is too hard to kill. I've tried various poisons, note to self: must try foxglove; hitting her over the head with a very heavy frying pan…

Me: I'm well loved, aren't I?

Tigger: I will save you!

Me: Uh-Oh…Um, Tigger? What are you doing here?

Tigger: I escaped from laras daughter! The chains were really hard to loosen…

Me: Do I have to call the FSPCM (Fanfic Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Muses) again? Why was laras daughter chaining you up?

Tigger: To stop me, from stopping her attacking my shrine with a sledgehammer.

Me: What was it a shrine of?

laras daughter: (appears) You do not want to know. Tigger, you're coming back.

Tigger: But…

laras daughter: Now!

Me: Well, while he's here he can do a disclaimer.

Tigger: Of course. Mez10000 doesn't own Tales of Symphonia, or the Mission Impossible theme tune, which she forgot to mention last time. She does own my – (gets gagged by laras daughter, put in a sack and dragged away)

laras daughter: Trust me, you didn't want to know.

Me: See you around! And readers, please excuse the craziness. (If you read laras daughter's reviews, you'll see what this was all about.)

* * *

For the rest of the day, I hardly spoke. I couldn't mention Zelos' betrayal in front of Kratos.

I should have been expecting it, but I hadn't realised it would happen so soon. The boys could see that I was sad about something and at first they were worried, but after me refusing to talk, they gave up.

I hardly realised that a message had come through for Kratos to go to Mithos' castle area, until Kratos asked whether I was coming or not.

I declined, mentioning that I had my own ways of finding out what would be said. Stephen left with Kratos, in a dog's form. He was some kind of cross-breed, but looked like a whippet.

I then made my way through the ventilation system to spy on Yggdrasil's meeting room. I was slightly slow so I didn't hear the beginning of the meeting.

"Kratos, why is that vermin in Derris-Kharlan?"

"Dogs are very good at reducing stress in humans. I've been feeling more stressed lately, so I got a dog. I trust you remember the last time I got stressed?"

"Yes, well, you're responsible for it. Anyway, I called you here to ask you a favour."

"Yes, my lord?" Only someone with very acute hearing could hear the slightest waver in his voice. I prayed that Yggdrasil, with his angel hearing could not.

"I wish you to keep an eye on the Chosen's group. I have information that they are heading towards Sybak, where they plan to halt the Angelus Project that is being grown on a member of their party."

Kratos winced at the words 'Angelus Project', overcome with memories of Anna.

"I am terribly sorry, Kratos. Did I hurt you?" His tone was mocking.

Kratos looked like he was about to do something he'd regret for a moment, but eventually turned and left the room.

I was about to make my way through the ventilation system once again, when I heard Yggdrasil's voice.

"Pronyma? I want you to keep an eye on him. It may be that he's leaking information to the Chosen."

'_It's begun, Cyclone. Soon, Lloyd will save this world…although, not without some mistakes.'_ I sighed.

I met up with Kratos and Stephen in the combat training room.

"I assume you heard all that?" Kratos said.

"Yep. Oh, you should know that Pronyma's keeping tabs on you, by the way." I revealed.

Suddenly, Kratos' face looked somewhat near to his age. A tired look came into his eye. He changed back into his normal, emotionless self as suddenly as the look had come. He simply started walking.

"Doesn't waste words, does he?" Stephen said.

"Think what you will." He retorted. "And I'm not deaf either."

"Um, where are we going?" I asked.

"Where do you wish to go?"

"Just a thought, but Nia and I need to be stronger if we ever want to confront Naois and live." Stephen pointed out.

"And your point is?"

"I'll need to ask the Sylph to borrow the full power of the wind and Stephen will need to ask Gnome."

"Fine. Balacruft Mausoleum it is."

We managed to get there quickly, via teleporting. I did ask if we could fly and stretch my wings a bit, but I didn't get an answer.

We also managed to get through the temple quickly. Stephen mucked around in the main room, standing in between the two spiky traps until they were just about to close, then jumping out of the way.

We finally got to the seal room. I stepped forward.

"I, Nia Jones, call upon the Summon Spirits of Wind, the Sylph. I humbly ask for power over the winds, like that which I once had."

The three pixie-like figures appeared in a sparkling green light. Sephie, the one with four wings, spoke first.

"You come seeking a pact?"

"Yes and no. I am not a summoner, but an element user. I call upon the mana around me to directly control the air, instead of using my own to summon you, so **you** may control the air."

"I see. There has been one other like you, but not for a very long time." Sephie revealed.

"What? I never knew that there was ever anyone, apart from us…"

Yutis giggled. "I remember her! She used to play with us!"

"As fascinating as all this is, it isn't helping me gain power."

"Sorry. Anyway, could you excuse us for a moment?" One of the Sylph asked. I find it so hard to tell them apart. All three disappeared.

I waited patiently for the Sylph to return. I thought about how much I had wanted to use my powers over the wind and had been unable to. Back at home, I was used to using the wind to levitate in my normal human body, instead of flying as a bird. I used the wind to freak people out, mainly my schoolteachers, by creating a voice that only that person could hear, to slowly convince them that they were insane…the list went on.

The Sylph returned.

"We have thought about it and we have decided that you seem trustworthy. However, we have been wrong before, as I'm sure your friend Kratos can tell you."

"Don't blame yourselves. I, too, thought Mithos was incapable of such irrational thoughts." Kratos told them.

"Still, we insist on a trial, a test of your worth."

"I see no problem with that." I smiled anticipating a challenge.

"As wind can be a tricky element to command at the best of times, this shall not be a test of physical strength, but of mental ability."

"What do I need to do?" I asked.

"Answer our questions, of which there shall be three. All you need to do is answer them truthfully and to the best of your ability."

"Why do I feel like I have heard this before? Like at exam time?" I asked thin air.

"Ready, your first question is: if the sun is shining on the north side of a building, and the wind blows from the east, which side does the rooster lay his egg on?"

"That is the oldest one in the book! First, it's a rooster, it can't lay eggs. Secondly, if it was a chicken, then she would lay her egg on the warmest side, which would be the north side."

"Well done. Next: as you fly, as a bird, what three things must you keep in mind?"

"Angle, speed and balance." The answer shot, as if it were a bullet from a gun.

"The third and final question: Why do you seek the power of the wind?"

I thought for a while. This question had no clear-cut answer. I said exactly what I thought.

"A mixture of reasons really. First, I simply miss being in control, it makes me feel weak, vulnerable and dependant when I cannot use the wind. Second, to protect myself and others, from Naois. And third, if I ever want to get back home, I'll need both elements in balance. If I don't go back home when the time calls…I don't want to think about the consequences."

The Sylph thought about my final answer. "Well, we have decided that although you have some faults, you admitted them openly, and you're concerned about the state of your own world and ours. We bestow upon you power over the winds, and wish that you use them wisely."

"Thank you."

The Sylph disappeared.

"That was it?" Asked Stephen.

I smiled at Stephen. "You know what this means don't you? For a short while, I'm more powerful than you. So, you'd better be nice to me!"

"I could still beat you in a friendly fight." Stephen confidently announced.

"You think? Let's have a contest…first person to lay the flat of their weapon across the opponents back wins."

"Okay." He agreed.

"I shall start the match. Draw your weapons, and begin." Kratos said, with the air of a teacher announcing the start of a test.

I smiled. I summoned a wall of fire around me, protecting me while I worked a piece of wind manipulation. I thought of a bubble around Stephen, the walls of the bubble being powerful winds blowing into the bubble, preventing Stephen from moving. I removed the wall of fire to see Stephen struggling in the bubble.

He stopped struggling, relaxed and remembered that he could teleport out of the bubble. As he teleported I called back the winds from the bubble. Experience of Stephen's fighting style taught me to thrust my hand back at the same time. When Stephen reappeared behind me, he found my arm **in** his chest. He shuddered, and teleported off my arm.

I was alert, making sure I knew exactly where he was, the second he arrived there. He appeared a couple of metres to my right. I rushed him and lightly hit his back with my hand.

"I win." I said triumphantly.

"Well, what other result did you expect?" Kratos asked.

"Wait, you're saying I didn't have a chance?" Stephen's question was ignored.

"I suppose now you want to go to the earth temple?" Kratos asked.

The way Kratos was speaking sounded a little like Marvin, the paranoid android. I frowned. I'd hoped that Kratos would have started to let some emotions through by this stage…

"If we're going, then let's go already!" Stephen shouted.

As we started walking out, a dreadful thought hit me. What if Lloyd and the rest of the group were making the pact with Gnome or had already made the pact? Maybe they'd need to ask Sheena's permission, giving the group a perfect chance to question us. For the sake of this world, I couldn't let that happen.

* * *

I thought I'd never finish that in time! But I have a very important announcement to make. I think you'll need the rotten tomatoes…

With the Easter holidays approaching, I needed to finish this chapter quickly, as for the whole two weeks I will not have access to a computer. Therefore, I will not be able to write any more chapters until I come back home…(dodges rotten tomatoes) I realise that you are upset, and I promise to think of lots of good ideas…(dodges more rotten fruit)…Bye! (runs off)


	12. Gnome

Tigger: Hello everyone and welcome to my shrine! This is dedicated to Mez10000 and entry costs £3. We are also selling Mez dolls…

Me: Tigger, what _are_ you doing?

Tigger: Um…(tries to hide dolls and shrine) nothing.

Me: What's this? (Picks up a Mez doll)

Laras daughter: It's a Mez doll. We're selling them at £30 for big dolls and £4 for small dolls.

Me: WHAT!

Laras daughter: Well, I'm skint and Tigger took my pictures of Tom, Keiren, Richard and my Eminem posters!

Me: Well, could you do it some other time when I'm not trying to do a disclaimer?

Laras daughter: Okay. We were just trying to get your readers to have a look.

Me: (Sigh) Just, someone, do a disclaimer.

Tigger: Mez10000 does not own Namco or Tales of Symphonia. We really wish she did, cause then she could give us some money.

Me: I'm skint too after my holiday shopping! Enjoy!

* * *

The journey to Gnome's temple was swift; no-one wanted to have to confront Lloyd's group. I hesitated a moment before entering the cavern. In my experience, caves were damp, dripping places. However, this was not the time to worry.

It was actually quite dry inside. I supposed they wouldn't want to make a leaky temple. Whoever 'they' was. I was expecting a Gnomelette to stop us, but the little thing with an attitude problem wasn't there. I gulped.

"I think they've already formed the pact." I announced.

"How do you know?"

"The Gnomelette." I said simply.

We all quickened our pace. I was glad to see that Kratos was bringing up the rear, just in case we did run into the group. We got to the main altar without meeting them.

"Go on then, Stephen. Do your stuff."

He stepped forward.

"Gnome? Are you home?" Stephen called, his voice echoing in the cavern.

I palmed my face. This was no way to act in front of a Summon Spirit.

Gnome appeared. "So, what can I do for ya?"

I sighed. Stephen's inappropriate behaviour was nothing compared to Gnome's. His form struck me a weird, too. If I was a ruler of earth mana, I wouldn't choose to look like a cartoon gopher with a…bow (?) on my head and a shovel in my hand.

"I want greater control over the earth." Stephen said.

"Yeah, the Sylph told me there was one of you guys who can control the elements hanging round with Kratos." Then, as if he'd only just noticed Kratos, he added, "How've you been? It's been, umm, four thousand years since we last met."

Kratos grimaced. "I'd hardly noticed."

"Anyway, I'll need to test you. Can't have you running around with unlimited power now, can we?"

'_He is seriously getting on my nerves.'_ I thought.

Stephen gave the tiniest of nods, before saying, "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, I've only just fought someone and lost, so that wouldn't be any fun…how about we fight, but you have no weapons?"

"Only if you have no magic." Stephen said jokingly. I don't think he could see Gnome accepting the terms.

"Deal." Gnome's answer made everyone's face fall. (Apart from Kratos. Is his face made of stone of something?)

"Can I just speak to Stephen a second?" I asked. I didn't wait for an answer.

'_Okay, new rule: never joke to a higher lifeform.'_

'_Shouldn't we be equal?'_

'_If you were equal to Gnome, you would have some limited intelligence!'_

'_So, you think I can't win?'_

'_Well, you do specialise in weapon fighting…'_

'_As Gnome does in earth spells.'_

'_He's got more weight to throw around.'_

'_I have my water.' _

I couldn't help thinking that a little splash of water wouldn't help much. _'Well, I can't stop you. I just hope the experience will teach you some sense.'_

'_And you aren't my mother, or teacher either!'_

'_Sorry. But it's true.' _

Stephen walked towards Gnome. "I'm ready."

Stephen assumed a battle stance, keeping his centre of gravity low. Gnome rushed at him. Stephen darted to the side. Gnome ran right past him, his momentum driving him into a wall. The ground trembled slightly and Stephen's idea suddenly dawned on me. He was using Gnome's own weight against him.

Gnome picked himself up and swung at Stephen with his shovel. Stephen teleported right onto Gnome's head. Stephen put his hands over Gnome's eyes. The result was instant. Gnome started staggering around and dimly swatting at his head. Gnome banged into yet another wall of his own cavern.

Gnome still wasn't quitting. Stephen made a bubble of water around Gnome's nose.

A second later, Gnome was yelling, "Okay, okay. I give up. Man, I hate water up my nose. I guess I'd better lend you my power. Except…I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?" Stephen asked.

"You see, I made a pact the other day, and I can't do anything this big without asking permission. Or rather, you asking permission." Gnome said.

"Why can't you do it?"

"It's your power, if you want it so bad, work for it."

I sighed; Summon spirits couldn't half be annoying. "We need to go and ask Sheena, right?" I asked.

"Yep, well good luck." Gnome said before disappearing.

I felt really close to strangling something. Once I'd calmed down I said, "Nothing for it but to ask Sheena."

"We don't know where they are." Kratos said.

"Correction: _you_ don't know where they are, I can give a very good guess."

"Do you ever go straight to the point?" Stephen asked me. "They're going round getting pacts with all the Summon Spirits."

"Why are they doing that?" Kratos asked concern in his voice.

"How can I say this tactfully so that you won't worry for Lloyd? Well, they've learnt of the protections on the great seed. However, they just think they are separating the two worlds and haven't really thought about what will happen if both the worlds don't get any mana." I explained.

Kratos' face turned a rainbow of colours, which was nothing compared to his aura. It (the aura, not his face!) first turned red for nervous, then blue for guilt, then orange for worried before settling on his usual yellow. His face was only just paler than normal.

"Let's go." He said in a strained voice.

"Kratos, it's okay to let us know what you're feeling. You don't have to keep everything bottled up."

"Thanks, but we don't have the time." He teleported us all to outside the fire temple.

"Somebody just run in and check. Everyone else, stay in the shade." Kratos remarked.

"I'll go and check."

I ran in quickly but not before hearing Stephen say, "And I'm going to stand in the shade of a palm tree before I evaporate away!"

Inside the temple, it was even warmer than the scorching desert outside.

"Thank you, Efreet." I muttered as I ran.

I used the air to lift me up mid-leap to carry me over the lava pits and onto the teleport. It wasn't hard, since the warm air only wanted to travel up anyway.

I looked around quickly, noticing neither hide nor hair of the group. I teleported into the altar room and found no one. I reported back to Kratos.

"Not there."

"Have they been there yet?" Kratos asked.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"You could have asked Efreet." Stephen pointed out.

"In my experience Summon Spirits, elemental guardians and similar people don't want to be bothered by trivial matters."

Stephen blushed and Kratos looked like he was going to explode with me calling the destruction of Symphonia 'trivial'. He noticed Stephen blush and probably wondered why, even if he wouldn't ask.

"Once, we were in another world, called Hyrule. We managed to go into one of the temples, the Temple of Time. When we were inside, he asked the sage, Rauru for a glass of water. Rauru got a little…annoyed."

"He was over reacting." Stephen pouted.

"Yes, here is Rauru trying to somehow explain that Link is seven years older than when he went asleep, an evil tyrant has taken over the land _and_ the true heiress to the throne is missing when you barge in and demand a cup of water."

"I was _thirsty_."

I looked over to Kratos who was half-smiling. "Where to next?" I asked.

He wiped his face of the smile before saying, "Flanoir?"

"Uh-oh, I forgot there was a temple there." I said quietly.

Kratos teleported us outside the ice temple. I dashed inside as quickly as possible.

"What was that all about?" Stephen asked once he came in.

"It's snowing." My tone was almost as icy as the weather.

"And?"

"Snow is frozen water. Snow melts when it touches my skin. Water _burns_." I knew it wasn't the first time I'd explained it to Stephen and it probably wouldn't be the last.

"Oh."

I changed the morphanic material to a fake fur coat and trousers, mainly for the waterproof skins, but they were also warm. I made sure to add a hood for the coat for when we went outside again.

We went through the icy cave until Stephen stopped us.

"They have been here."

"How can you tell?" I asked.

He pointed down at the layer of ice in front of us. If they hadn't had been here, this would have been water.

I turned my ears into an owl's, knowing that they can hear a mouse in long grass up to fifteen metres away. How did I know? I'd seen it. I felt sorry for the mouse. I heard voices clearly from the altar room.

"Well done. It seems my freezing chill is but a summers breeze to you." The voice, I assumed was Celsius, the only Summon Spirit with a major attitude problem.

I changed my ears back and said to Kratos, "They're here, hide."

He didn't need telling twice. He took his angel wings out and flew to the platform overlooking the room. Lloyd and the rest of the group walked towards the sheet of ice, then stopped, unable to believe that we were actually standing in front of them.

"Hello?" Stephen said, breaking the silence.

"You are there aren't you?" Sheena asked.

"As far as I am aware, me and Stephen are absolutely here and are not figments of your imaginations."

They slid over the ice and Lloyd asked, "Why are you here?"

"We have a favour to ask of Sheena."

"Of me?"

"Yeah. We need you to give permission to Gnome, so that he may let Stephen borrow some power over the earth."

"If I'm expected to do this for you. I want some answers."

A synonym for dung came into my mind, but I pushed it away. "Alright."

"First: who are you?"

"My name is Nia Owen Jones."

"And mine is Stephen Eric Gerald Atkinson."

"Okay, why did you leave us like that?" Lloyd asked.

"You asked questions we couldn't answer."

"Why couldn't you?"

"I told you, the very fabric of this world could unravel and twist itself into new shapes if I told you the answer to these questions."

Everyone gasped audibly. "You didn't say that last time!"

"I know I just said the world would be destroyed…" I stopped and thought. "Actually, the world may be destroyed _or_ distorted out of shape."

"I suppose you can't tell us why, can you?" Raine asked.

"That's right. I can't tell you why. So, any other questions?"

Everyone was quiet. I don't think they felt comfortable gambling with Symphonia's future.

"Thank you. Sheena?" Stephen asked.

"You've kept your end of the bargain. I summon the servant of Mother Earth, come, Gnome." Gnome appeared at Sheena's words.

"Hi you guys. I guess you've heard about the kid, huh?" Gnome said.

'_Kid! I beat Gnome in a one-on-one fight, and he calls me a kid?' _Stephen thought.

"I give you permission to lend your power to Stephen." Sheena said.

"Thank you." Stephen said to Sheena.

"Have you made a pact with the Sylph yet?" My question was met with curious looks.

"Don't ask how I know." I said in a weary tone. I was getting tired. I absentmindedly wondered when was the last time I had 'refuelled' on fire?

"We haven't made the pact yet." Lloyd answered, being the first person to find his tongue.

"You might run into a similar problem with the Sylph, so, Sheena, if you could?.." I trailed off.

Sheena gave a half smile, "Give the Sylph permission? No problem."

"Thanks. Well, you guys…just keep saving the world. We'll see you around, I'm sure of it." I turned on my heel and walked away.

Stephen must have followed me, but all I remembered was the world turning black before my eyes.

* * *

This is the first cliff hanger of any kind in this fic! I am sorry for the delay. (and I was running out of ideas near the end!) And ALL of my character names have hidden meanings. Including Naois' surname (next chapter!).

On a bright note, the next two chapters should flow like wine, since I think of them and plan them almost every night. After that I'm going to have a couple of random chapters (which will be short as end of year exams are coming up! Evil…) and then I can only see three chapters at most that I'd add on to this! So we're 6/7 chapters from the end. Of course, by then I'll have SUMMER HOLIDAYS and be able to start on my sequel. Why did I type that all out? Well, now everyone knows.

Please review. (killer puppy dog eyes)


	13. Gwenwyn, Benji and Loki

So, just to recap, Nia has collapsed in the _ice _temple. Can anyone think how this might be bad for her?

On a completely different note, I _still_ don't Namco!

* * *

"_I shall show her in, my lord."_

'_Where am I?' I asked myself groggily._

_I could see Mithos' meeting room on Derris-Kharlan._

'_I'm having a vision. Oh, please say this is just a vision!' I thought frantically. _

_As it was, I didn't need to worry. It was a vision. However, something was about to happen which would get me far more scared._

_Naois, accompanied by an angel guard, walked into the room._

"_What is a human like you doing in Derris-Kharlan?" Mithos' tone of voice was ice cold. _

_Naois registered Mithos' tone, and made it even colder. "I was told that you were powerful. I must tell my informant that they were mistaken." Naois thought, then said, "Are you going to go into a strop just because I'm a human, or are you going to listen?"_

"_What do you think you have to say which I'd find so interesting?"_

"_I have had enough of your arrogance. One more word from you, and I destroy your precious Derris-Kharlan."_

"_Who are you?" Mithos asked, just a hint of mistrust in his voice._

"_My name is Naois Gwenwyn." _(This name is awesome! Although there's probably only three people reading who'll get this…)

"_Naois, why are you here?"_

"_I want to help you. I believe in what you're doing. And I can give you information."_

"_Such as?"_

"_There is another world outside these two, called Reality. The people in Reality know exactly what will happen in this world."_

"_And what concern is this of mine?"_

"_If I know Reality half as well as I think I do, I don't think you'll like what happens in about a month's time."_

"_What happens?"_

"_I don't know. However, there are two children from Reality here. We could use them to know and prevent what will happen."_

"_How will you get them to talk?"_

Naois smiled. "Their world is destabilising. I won't bore you with the details, but I can use this information to bring them here."

My sight and hearing was starting to fade into nothingness…

I cranked open one eye to find my vision blurred. It occurred to me that I was lying on something soft. The walls around me were a dirty white colour.

'_Hang on, there are walls?'_ I thought sleepily.

Half of me was insisting that there aren't any walls outside, the other half didn't care, and wanted to go to sleep. Three years ago, the half of me who wanted to sleep would have won. That was back when I could sleep.

I tried to speak, but a groan came out. I opened both my eyes. Stephen and Kratos were standing over me, worried.

'_Don't try to speak.'_ Stephen thought.

'_Too late now!'_ I growled.

"She's back to her normal, perky state, at least mentally." Stephen said.

'_Perky! I feel like I've been whacked over the head with a sledgehammer!' _

"Kratos, she'll need some fire."

I noticed a log burner in the corner of the room. Kratos picked me up. I wanted to protest, I didn't want to feel so pathetic. I put my hand into the fire.

Warmth coursed through my veins. I felt like myself again, not some useless rag doll. And I remembered Naois' words: Reality is destabilising.

"Stephen, we have a problem." I said.

I explained to Kratos that each and every force has an equal and opposite reaction. This was also true of our elemental powers. However, when the opposite of our power is left without a balance in Reality, general chaos ensues. I didn't want to remind Stephen or myself of the exact details.

"So, one of us will need to go to Reality and balance things out." I finished.

Stephen immediately volunteered me. He said it was because I was better at these sorts of things. Knowing what the job entailed, I agreed.

"Stephen, remember that you need to stay in this room. You're my link."

Stephen nodded. I lay down on one of the beds shut my eyes, and tried to think of a link to Reality. My link needed strong magical or emotional connections. I remembered an incident that happened one day before school.

I'd walked in with one of my friends. It was just after I'd accidentally found out about my powers and I was reluctant to use them.

_In the main hall of my school, I saw some boys chasing up and down the hall. I somehow realised that a robin was hiding alongside one of the walls and the boys were chasing it up and down. I felt a strong wave of pity for the robin. It must have flown in through one of the open doors, and then got trapped by the wall, frightened to run or fly out, in case anyone stood on him. _

_I could **feel** his heart racing._

'_Come here,' I commanded in the bird language._

_The robin flew to my arms and landed on my outstretched finger. I took him to the door, where he flew onto the fence about a metre in front of me._

'_Thank you, you saved my life.' _

_After that, I became willing to use my powers. I stayed in touch with that robin, who went on to father a family. It was also then when I realised that different birds have different levels of intelligence. Most small birds are quite simple, apart from robins. But the birds of prey are the real masterminds of the bird community. _

Using my memories of the robin to create a link, I pulled myself through the dark in-between worlds and emerged into bright sunlight.

I blinked and looked around myself, taking in my surroundings. I was standing on a well-trodden earth path. On either side of me was about five metres of boggy marshland, and past that grew pine trees. Or maybe they were fir? The fact that my mind was scrambled from it travelling across worlds and leaving my body behind didn't help my lack of knowledge of tree species. They were definitely some kind of evergreen tree.

I recognised the place, but forgot the name. With the infuriating feeling of it being on the tip of my tongue, I followed the path forwards. The marshland opened out into a wide blue lake, a flawless mirror that reflected the cloudless sky. Suddenly the wind picked up, sending ripples across the lake and a couple of drops of water into my cheek. I flinched, but realised it didn't hurt. There are some really good points about leaving your body behind.

However, the sudden change of the wind worried me. It had sensed me and tried to harm me. I quickened my pace, following the path round the lake. I had less time than I thought.

On the far end of the lake, I stepped into a thick forest of evergreen trees. After walking a fair way down the path, I heard a voice.

"Come on, Benji." It was a girl walking her dog.

When they broke into view I saw that I couldn't exactly call the person a girl, more of a teenager. Her dog, a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel came running up to me. I worried, what if this person could see me? And why did she look familiar?

I realised that my mind was so scrambled that I couldn't even recognise my friends from school! Benji was pawing at my leg, trying to warn his mistress of the spirit in the middle of the path.

"Hush, Benji. Take her out of this place as soon as possible." I implored the dog in whispers.

"Who's there?" My friend asked, not afraid, but curious.

'_She can't see me, but she can hear me. So, I just need to keep quiet…not so easy.'_ I thought to myself.

Benji was still pawing at me.

"Is there something there? Come on, Benji, you daft mutt. It's just a twig." My friend started walking again, and her dog followed reluctantly.

I sighed a sigh of relief. I had forgotten that the lake was a popular place for dog owners to walk their dogs.

I walked on in silence. Even with the homicidal wind trying to kill me, it felt good to be home. I stopped and frowned. I could hear faint strains of beautiful music someway to my left. The tune was familiar, nagging at the back of my mind.

I opened my mouth, to sing if I could remember the words. I couldn't quite grasp the words that were trickling through my mind like water. I wandered towards the music, off the path. I almost stumbled on a tree root, a little way from my destination.

The source of the negative energy, the ying to my yang, was a carved stone that reached to my knees.

'_Finally, now to neutralise the energy.'_ I thought.

A little voice, part of myself, asked, _'But how?'_

'_Um, uh-oh.'_ I was clueless because of my journey through worlds.

'_Let's think about this. I have done this before, and I'll do it again.'_ I groaned with annoyance.

The music was annoying me and leading my mind of track. The fact that it was painfully familiar, yet the lyrics were just out of reach made me frustrated.

A light bulb switched on in my head. _'The music! I must have put it here as a clue.'_

I listened to the tune for a while. It was nice, but nothing stuck out particularly, without the words. Suddenly a lyric popped into my head.

Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me… 

What did it mean? Wind…that was one of my elements…_and_ the only one to go out of control. Therefore, I should neutralise it with fire…how would I be able to keep it neutralised if I wasn't constantly here?

A piece of advice floated into my mind: when you are stuck, you ask for help. Normally from someone with either more intelligence than you, or more power than you. That makes sense.

'_Ha!'_ I scoffed at my own advice. _"The only person to have more power than me would have to be some kind of god, or something…"_ I trailed off, realising that my joke could actually be a serious idea.

'_Okay, if I need to somehow ask a fire god for help, I need to think about what fire gods there actually are.'_ There was Ra, the Egyptian sun god - which raised the question, did sun gods actually count? There was Lugh, a Celtic sun god; Helios, the Greek sun god and Kagutsuchi, (anyone thinking of the Ktugach/Ktugachlings?) the fire god in the Shinto creation myth.

'Which one do I choose?' I asked myself in desperation. I knew that there were still more fire and sun gods I hadn't thought of.

The song's lyrics drifted through my mind yet again.

Don't say I'm not up touch, with this rampant chaos, your reality… 

Was the song hinting that I look for clues in the world I had just come from? It was worth a try. After a moment's hard thought, another light bulb went on. Yggdrasil, Vidarr, Idun, Asguard, Heimdall, Draupnir, the Valkyries and **many** other names are part of Norse mythology. So, I should summon a Norse fire god!

(For all of those people with jaws hanging who don't understand exactly where I got all the names above from, I'll make a list at the end of the chapter.)

"I call upon the trickster fire god, Loki. I bind him to me and ask him to protect this land. In answering my summons, he may not do mischief on this land, it's people or animals."

A circle of fire spread around me, and Loki appeared. He towered over me, but not impossibly so and his hair was a mass of raging flames.

"Humph, spoil sport." He muttered.

"What? I won't let you play your 'tricks' here? I don't exactly want a forest fire."

"So, what do I need to do?" He asked.

"Just make sure you neutralise the wind's power. It shouldn't be too hard for someone like you."

"It isn't too hard. Anything else?"

"That should be it. Well, bye."

I reached back into Symphonia, almost reluctantly. My eyes opened to the smiling face of Stephen and the worried one of Kratos, which recomposed itself in a millisecond.

"You should have seen Kratos. He was having kittens!" Stephen went on to imitate Kratos' voice, "Is she supposed to be that still? Are you sure she's breathing properly?"

I smiled. It was good to be back.

* * *

This took a lot longer than expected and I'm really sorry, but as some people may know or may guess, it's almost exam time! (Dun dun duh!) And before the exams I have three project works to hand in! (Dun dun duh!) In ONE subject! (Dun dun duh!)

And that is the last time (hopefully) that I'll mention it. On to acknowledgements. Big thanks to Bloody Jack Lover (A.K.A Laras daughter) for giving me alot of inspiration where Naois is concerned and for giving me the disclaimer for last chapter.

The song that I mentioned is Imaginary by Evanescence. (Note: I don't own!)

And the list that I promised you…

**Yggdrasil** – Kind of obvious, Mithos' last name and the name of the tree. (for all of you wondering, YES that **really** is the name of the tree)

**Vidarr** – The very first boss where you meet Kratos, who saves your sorry hides.

**Idun** – One of the trickier ones, one of the monsters on Derris-Kharlan the last time you go there.

**Asguard** – If you can't find it, turn ToS off– Again, easy to find

**Draupnir** – One of the armour items for arms

**Valkyries** – As in the Valkyrie Blades, one of Lloyd's (many) sets of swords.


	14. Secrets

Hello, this is the deranged mind of a person driven over the edge by homework including three language homeworks (Dydd da, Guten tag, Bonjour). But enough with my whining, you want to read the next chapter. (and if you don't, then I'm wondering why you are on this page in the first place.)

Another note to the WSM: You wanted back story, you've got back story.

I _still_ don't own Tales of Symphonia.

You may have some idea how far I'm going to have to play the game to get to where I want it, and I don't have time for that, homework, writing the fanfic, exams, reading **and** any social life I have left! So, here's sorry if this chapter is late.

* * *

The days and weeks flowed like the wind through the valleys. Kratos, Stephen and I travelled round Symphonia and Tethe'alla, seeing sights and fighting monsters. Occasionally, we remembered the parts where Kratos has to meet up with the group and forced him there, mostly out of fear that it could change the story line if we didn't.

Nothing much happened. The Kharlan tree sprouted prematurely, so Kratos had to help shut down the Iselia Desian ranch. Stephen and I wanted to help, but it would have been too much of a coincidence, all of us in the same place, by accident. Of course, the Kharlan tree was eventually 'degrown', and everyone found out about Colette's Chronic Angelus Crystalus Inofficium (which Stephen referred to as Colette's crystal-thingy).

Around the time when the group of heroes had gathered all the materials necessary for stopping Colette's crystallisation, Kratos got a message on his communicator to go to Derris-Kharlan. Since there seemed to be no hurry, we walked. Well, they walked, I flew. I was a Red Kite, one of my favourite birds. From below, they can easily be seen by their forked tails. In my homeland, they are quite rare. It is estimated that there are around thirty breeding pairs.

We arrived in the grounds around the Tower of Salvation in Tethe'alla. I was stunned by the silence of the place. It was unnatural, just complete and total silence. Not even Kratos' and Stephen's footfalls made a sound to my ears. From the silence, emerged a hiss, then a short yell.

I looked down, worried for my friends. Kratos had fallen to the floor, a little speck of colour at his neck.

I heard another hiss, and dipped my left wing sharply in order to dodge another fleck of colour. Now that it was in front of me, I could tell it was a tranquilliser dart.

'Why not let this person think he's hit his target?' I thought.

I dived down in the most unnatural angle possible, only just cushioning my fall. A pair of hands grabbed me roughly, pinning my wings to my side. I felt the normal helpless panic well up inside me, but I fought it as best I could. I remembered, just in time, that normally when animals are asleep, they shut their eyes.

I had one complaint with the closed eyes thing: I couldn't see anything. I had the feeling of being teleported, and then I heard a voice.

"Nobody do anything until Kratos wakes up. The drug should wear off in a couple of minutes." I recognised the voice, but I couldn't place it. It was male and full of authority.

"Sir? How do we know that Lloyd has not had any of the drug?" Said a second, vastly different voice.

"I placed it in the tomatoes. It must run in the family, the dislike for the tomatoes." Said the first voice.

Kratos' voice mumbled sleepily, "Not…tomatoes."

"Our friend must be waking up. Have you checked all the precautions?" Voice number one asked.

"Affirmative. The Seraph shall not be able to use any angelic or elven magic, and we have disarmed him, sir." Said one of the bootlicking voices.

"And the boy?" It occurred to me that he meant Stephen.

"He has half-elven blood, so we disarmed him and prevented him from doing magic."

It occurred to me that if Kratos was starting to wake up, then I could at least open my eyes.

I saw Yuan in front of me and realised what was about to happen. He was accompanied by half a dozen Renegades.

"What should we do about the bird, sir?" Asked one of the Renegades.

"The security camera footage in Derris-Kharlan showed a girl turning into a bird. I believe we should keep the bird captive in the case that it does happen to be that girl."

I wondered if they would be able to hear me talking as a bird. Couldn't hurt to try, anyway. _'Yuan, can you hear me?'_

Yuan looked towards the small cage I was in.

'_Good. I am perfectly happy to stay in your capture for now, but I have one request. May I be let out of this…'_ I searched for a polite way to describe my prison, _'cage, so I can return to half-elven form.'_

"I never thought I'd negotiate with a captive, much less a bird. What benefit do we get from making you comfortable?"

'You have the fact that I will not resist you. As things stand, I could summon a dragon and a unicorn, and any of you that survive, which is quite unlikely, would find themselves knowing exactly what a log feels like when thrown onto a fire.'

"Very well. You, open the cage. And be ready for any sudden movements." Yuan told his men. If they had any doubt in their leaders orders, they didn't show it.

The cage was opened and I slowly transformed back into a half-elf.

Kratos' eyes snapped open, and the poor Seraph shouted, "Yuan, you bleep. What the hell do you think you're playing at!" I was _very_ scared.

Content that Kratos was awake, Yuan teleported into the dwarf's house.

Kratos seemed to calm down. I knew that he either thinking about how this could turn out, or thinking of how to escape.

Yuan appeared back outside again, and within ten seconds Lloyd stepped out the front door. Two Renegade soldiers had their swords pointed towards Lloyd's stomach and I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

"Yuan…and Kratos? Aren't the Cruix and Renegades enemies? And…Nia, Stephen! What the heck is going on?" Lloyd asked.

"Well, Yuan invited us all to a tea party in the middle of the night…" I started sarcastically, but lost my battle with my tears. "Stephen and I have been with Kratos all this time. Now Yuan's kidnapped us…or rather Kratos. He only needs Kratos."

"But…why?"

Yuan ignored Lloyd's question and turned to Kratos. "Release the seal, or your son dies."

Lloyd had a look of horror, mingled with defiance. "No, Kratos can't be. He can't be…" His voice dropped to a whisper, "my dad."

'_Did you spend your childhood dreaming of your father, Lloyd? Did you dream of that face just out of reach of your memory? Did you think he'd come and take you away, and love you just for existing? Shame everyone's dreams are really their nightmares.'_ I thought.

"How does it feel for your own son to reject you like that?" Yuan asked Kratos.

Although there was no verbal reply from Kratos, his eyes were awash with pain.

"From your attitude I guess you aren't going to release the seal. You'll just have to die." Yuan said coldly.

Again Kratos stayed quiet, knowing that it was perhaps the only way to stay alive.

"You changed once you got a family. Just like that time fifteen years ago when Anna turned into a monster, you lost your ability to fight back." Yuan sneered. "If she hadn't been together with you she never would have turned out like that." Yuan paused, then said sarcastically, "Such an _unfortunate_ woman."

Lloyd's hands were clenched in anger as he stepped forward towards Yuan. "Don't you _ever_ mock my mom!" He shouted.

I flinched as the Renegade closest Lloyd hit him in the back with such force that he fell over. Lloyd still got up, staggered the short distance to Yuan, drew his sword and slashed the half-elf.

Yuan easily jumped out of the way, and cast a spell to hit Lloyd. Kratos jumped between Yuan and his son, and took the full force of the spell. I hardly noticed Lloyd's scream, as I was calling Yuan every name under the sun, and I probably said a few bad words about his mother too.

Colette stepped out the door, woken by all the noise. "Lloyd, what's wrong?" She asked, oblivious to the scene around her.

"What am I supposed to believe? It's not true. Kratos can't be, the man who betrayed us and made you suffer, he couldn't possibly be my dad!" Lloyd shouted.

"Lloyd, calm down. You're still you. Don't lose sight of who you are." Colette pressed down on each word.

"I'm still me?" Lloyd whispered, asking himself.

"You're the one that told me, that no matter what I look like, even if I become an angel, I'm still me." Colette smiled softly. "And don't forget, Kratos saved you."

Lloyd wore his usual determined look instead of his confused one. "Yeah, you're right." Lloyd knelt next to Kratos. "Thanks."

Kratos gasped, to let us all know that he was alive.

"But I still can't call you dad." Lloyd ignored Colette's weak protest and launched into a trademark speech. "I hate what you…what Cruix does. Too many people have died. People from Sylvarant, people from Tethe'alla, Desians and Renegades and members of Cruix, they're all victims. I refuse to accept the idea that it's okay to sacrifice people for a cause. It's not okay to lose any life. No life should be born for the sole purpose of dying. I won't sacrifice the world to save Colette. I'm not giving up until I find a way for everyone to live."

A voice broke the short silence after Lloyd had spoken. "That was an amazingly corny speech. Congratulations." Everyone turned around to face Mithos, who had just walked out the door.

"I'd forgotten about you being here." I shouted at Mithos.

"Mithos?" Lloyd asked.

I started shouting at Yuan - again. "It appears that angels are less affected by your drug, you idiot!"

Mithos shot the Renegades with magic, and tried to shoot me as well. I simply engulfed the mana with fire and absorbed it.

From his new position – lying on the ground – Yuan asked, "Yggdrasil! How the hell did you find out!"

Mithos answered Yuan. "Do you think I didn't notice what was going on? How pathetic. I had Pronyma keep tabs on Kratos since it seemed he was leaking information to Lloyd's group. Hard to believe those filthy Renegades that were always getting in my way were actually led by you." He walked over to Yuan and kicked him in the ribs. "If it weren't for my sister's wishes to spare your life, I'd kill you right now!"

Mithos let out a laugh of other's pain, an evil one.

Lloyd, obviously confused by seeing the quiet and shy Mithos acting like he did, and being even more confused that Yuan had named him Yggdrasil, he asked, "What is going on?"

The door opened and everyone who was in the house stepped out side, including Tabatha and Altessa.

Genis quickly took in the scene and shouted, "Mithos! So it's true…"

"What's true? That you shouldn't have trusted me? Good guess Genis, because I didn't trust you either." Mithos said.

Mithos shot his magic at Presea, but Altessa jumped in front and took the blow.

"Mithos…saved me…Mithos." Tabatha said emotionlessly.

"Shut up!" Mithos shouted and shot more magic, this time at Tabatha, who was thrown back by the force.

Raine's mouth was slightly agape. "How could you do that! You even risked your life to save her!"

"Tabatha…that doll looked so disturbingly like my sister, I never could stand her. She's a failed vessel that couldn't accept my sister's soul. Just looking at her makes my sick." Mithos explained.

Lloyd suddenly burst out, "How dare you betray my best friend!" And used Demon Fang on Mithos.

Genis ran in between Lloyd and Mithos. "Lloyd, stop. Please, you're both my friends." The little mage's eyes looked watery.

Pronyma teleported in. (A/N: My maths teacher _is_ Pronyma! Oh, right. I'll shut up.)

"Lord Yggdrasil, your wounds are not yet healed. Please, leave this to the angels."

Mithos' twelve(ish) year old form transformed into Lord Yggdrasil, leader of Cruix. "All right."

Pronyma cast a spell that teleported her, Yggdrasil and Kratos to Derris-Kharlan.

"No! Bring him back, you- you…" I shouted at Pronyma. I then started on Yuan. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't have shot Lloyd, I wouldn't have used my entire vocabulary cursing you!" I then paused to think. "And you were the one who kidnapped Kratos in the first place!"

"There's no time for that! Look behind you!" Raine shouted.

Pronyma had summoned two angels with little lances in each hand and black wings. She'd also summoned a normal, sword-wielding angel.

I sighed, knowing that I'd be called upon in battle. I wasn't violent by nature, and didn't enjoy fighting. It was just necessary, for myself **and** others.

I took the nearest black winged angel. With a sweeping downwards motion I brought the wind down, grounding the angel. A pillar of flame, under my command, engulfed the angel with ease and I knew the training Kratos had given Stephen and I in magic and mana was worth it. I hit the angel hard in the stomach and she fell to the ground and vanished.

To my embarrassment, everyone had finished their fights already and were watching me.

"You could've helped." I growled.

"You didn't look like you needed help. The angel couldn't get an attack in." Stephen said.

Everyone turned to Raine and the person she was knelt over, Altessa.

"My magic doesn't work as well on him, because he doesn't have an Exsphere." She explained sadly.

"Traditional methods then." I said. "Rice. Or riced."

"Riced? What are you talking about?" Genis asked.

"R for rest, I for ice, C for compression, E for elevation – raising the wound above the rest of the body," I added for Lloyd's benefit, "and D for doctor." I explained.

"I know a good doctor." Sheena said. "We called him from Flanior when the Chief became ill…" (I can't actually remember if that is true or not, feel free to correct me.)

"There must be a doctor nearer than that."

"Not one as good as him."

I sighed. "What are we waiting for? Let's go already!"

"Since when have you been giving orders?" Lloyd asked.

"Does it really matter right now? Altessa needs help."

"You're right. Let's go."

Everyone else took the Rheairds; I simply used the form of a European eagle owl to fly to the snowy city.

* * *

**Me:** Thus ends chapter 14. So mote it be.

**Kira:** Why are you being so…stuffy?

**Me:** I've just been reading the Immortals quartet and the Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce.

**Kira:** Why did you try to get rid of me?

**Me:** (innocent look) Me? What ever do you mean?

**Kira:** You disguised me as Xelha from Baten Kaitos, then told Nia!

**Me:** And how would that get rid of you?

**Kira:** You know full well that Xelha is the Ocean in their world; you cried when Xelha died to bring the Ocean back.

**Me:** It was sad!

**Kira:** **And**, when Nia wouldn't kill me, you brought me to Hylis, (in Beyond Good and Evil) disguising me as a Domz creature. Jade went absolutely crazy.

**Me:** But I didn't get rid of you.

**Kira:** Not for lack of trying.

**Me:** Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that I'm not only playing Tales of Symphonia, but I'm doing a load of other stuff too. Luckily I have school holidays right now, and teachers expect me to revise. (fat chance!) Oh, and review!

Next chapter is Flanior! (claps hands manically)

_Cast light upon the darkened earth,_

_Save those lost in despair._

_O, Mighty Ocean, guide us as we_

_Journey through,_

_The darkest pit of night._

_May time, ever fleeting_

_Forgive us_

_We who have forsaken our song, and buried our future._

_Fare thy well, my children_

_Rest, in my heart,_

_Forever…_

Xelha's prayer from Baten Kaitos


	15. Flanoir part 1

Me: Back again. Aside from Kira, I haven't had any death threats, and I've really been enjoying myself.

Kira: Shauni Osteroth Methai, Shauni Domz Eretai!

Me: I'm the one who uses that to annoy people! It's from one of my favourite games, Beyond Good and Evil.

Kira: You have a **list** of favourite games!

Me: Of course!

Tales of Symphonia

Beyond Good and Evil

Baten Kaitos

Animal Crossing: Wild World

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Kira: Shurri fire sword protect me…Oh, no! Now she's got me doing it!

Me: Doing what?

Kira: Naming Winding Circle gods! Mez10000 does not own Tamora Pierce and her books; any of the aforementioned games; or Tales of Symphonia.

Me: (OMG face, jaw hanging)

Kira: What?

Me: You've never done a disclaimer without me asking before! Who are you and what have you done with Kira!

Kira: I just thought I'd be kind for a change. Anyway, shouldn't you let your readers read?

Me: Yeah, sure. Oh, and I've been hinting at something for ages, which I'm surprised no-one has mentioned. And why hasn't anyone reviewed? **And** enjoy.

* * *

Have I mentioned how much I hate snow? Just for the record: I **hate** snow! As soon as we got into Flanior I ran into the inn on my left in one second.

"Hey, it's that girl again!" Said a male voice once I was inside the inn.

"Uh-oh." I whispered to myself. I never like it when people automatically know me. It makes me feel awkward and guilty.

'_Calm down. You haven't done anything.'_ Cyclone reassured me. _'Although you haven't spoken to me much.'_ Was that a pouty tone?

'_I'm sorry, but you've seen how busy we've been…'_

My apologies were stopped when the innkeeper spoke to me. "You're that girl, um…Nia!"

"How do you know my name?"

"We don't get too many girls round here unconscious in a man's arms, miss."

I blushed, remembering the last time I was in Flanior. Kratos must have carried me from the ice caves to here!

"I fainted in the ice caves." I explained.

"That's not how that other guy explained it, miss. He said you and the tall guy had something going on."

"I am going to **murder** Stephen!" Luckily for me, Stephen just walked through the door.

Noticing my murderous glint, Stephen looked at the innkeeper. "You didn't **tell** her did you?"

Not getting an answer, he ran back through the door. Then his head reappeared through the door.

"Just to let you know, everyone else is getting the doctor." Stephen informed me.

The wind pushed the door shut, unfortunately not with his head in.

I threw down some money for my room on the reception table and stormed off.

"Room three, miss. First on the left." The innkeeper shouted up to me.

Once in my room, I realised how cold it was. I sheepishly walked down to the reception and asked for some logs for a fire.

I had got a fire blazing merrily when night fell, and my temper had disappeared. Almost.

I heard a knock on the door. "Come in." I said, thinking it was probably room service or something.

"Lloyd?" I almost choked. Lloyd wasn't supposed to be here! He should be speaking to Colette or Kratos or someone! "Um, sorry. I was a little surprised. What do you want?"

"If you don't mind the snow, I'd like to talk to you outside."

"Sure. Give me a couple of seconds." I replied.

I quickly changed the morphanic material into three layers of fire and waterproof clothing, the last layer being a thick, fur-lined coat and trousers. I looked down at my hands and got gloves.

"Okay, I'm ready."

Lloyd and I walked out into the Flanior, to the balcony that overlooks the snowy city.

"It's really pretty. Like a scene from a Christmas card." I whispered reverently.

"Christmas card?" Lloyd asked.

"Oh, nothing. I make up weird words sometimes. Just ignore me when I do that." I fervently hoped Lloyd would buy it.

"Sure. Whatever."

"So, why did you want to talk to me anyway?"

"I wanted to know what Kratos is really like. He could have been hiding his true feelings the whole time he was with us."

"I understand. It can't have been easy for you when you found out. I won't tell you any lies, I promise.

"Kratos cared about you from the moment he knew who you were. That's why he tried to leave you behind in Iselia. He knew what the journey would be like. Unfortunately…or maybe fortunately, you're stubborn. After all, if you hadn't come along, no one would have got this far.

"Once Kratos knew I knew who he was, he asked me to protect you. He made me promise."

The realisation dawned on Lloyd's face.

"What else can I say?.. He's done a lot 'behind the scenes' to help you. When you needed the mana fragment…"

"Kratos told the guard that **he** needed it, so the guard would give it to us." Lloyd's jaw dropped open. "All the hints about where to look for the cure to Colette's disease, everything was for me wasn't it?"

"Yes. To be honest, Lloyd, you have one heck of a dad."

"Thanks."

"I'm starting to get cold. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to go back to the hotel."

"No, that's fine. I'll walk you back."

As we walked, I kept my eyes peeled, hoping to see Kratos before Lloyd did. Sure enough, I saw him sitting on the inn's roof, a mere black splodge.

I smiled, winked and said under my breath, "Good luck."

Kratos nodded, to show he'd heard me, then jumped down off the roof.

The boys remained silent, not sure what to say, then they both said, "I want to talk."

I would have laughed, but the situation was delicate. "I'll leave you two to it." I muttered and wandered off.

* * *

Short, I know. Don't complain, I have exams coming up and I wanted to wrap it up before then. My first exam (as the fates would have it) is Welsh! That was the only exam I was going to revise for! (and the one that I hate the most!)

Something that has cemented my bad mood is that no one's reviewed the last few chapters! Please, if only to say how bad it is! (Although I would be broken hearted because there are some really good moments in there.) I can only assume that everyone's as busy as me, and that you'll read and review at a later date.

Ciao!


	16. Flanoir part 2

Me? Don't own Tales of Symphonia. Never will. Good?

* * *

After splitting from father and son, I walked towards Noise's pen. In Triet it's very visible, but in Flanior it's round the back of the inn. It's more like a stable than an area built for dogs. Then again since Noishe isn't a dog…

Once inside the stable-like structure, I saw Stephen talking to Noishe. He noticed me instantly.

"Where've you been?" He asked.

"Talking to Lloyd."

"Wait, he came to you and asked to talk?"

"Yes. It's not that hard to believe, is it?"

"Nia, you're supposed to be smart! Think, what does this decide?"

I thought for a moment, then a lightbulb switched on. "Zelos."

"You know, you might have saved his life just now."

"But, Lloyd's talking to Kratos right now."

"That makes things…difficult."

"I'd rather not think about it. After all, we can't change anything now."

"I guess not." Stephen turned, and focused on Noishe.

After a few seconds he sniggered. "Cheeky thing." He said quietly.

"You can understand Noishe?" I asked.

"Runs on land, he's a mammal."

"But he's a protozoan." I protested.

"You tell him that that."

"This isn't fair! I miss being able to talk to birds. I feel so isolated. All the birds here are tainted with madness, probably the result of mana deficiency."

"I wish she wouldn't use big words like that." Stephen muttered.

Noishe walked up to me, sat down and prodded my hand with his nose.

"I know." I said softly. "You don't want me to be sad, right?"

Noishe cocked his head to one side in curiosity.

"I've lived all my life around dogs, so I have a fair idea of what you're trying to say. Besides, Stephen's been teaching me some simple body language."

My one-sided conversation was interrupted by a certain mercenary. He walked in and only just saw me.

"Oh. I want a word with Noishe…" Kratos started.

"Don't worry. How did it go with Lloyd?" I asked.

Kratos looked away. "We talked about some…family matters."

I felt really sad for the poor guy. "I understand. Look, it's not healthy for you to keep your emotions bottled up inside. You will make some really stupid decisions if you live like that."

Kratos gave a sound between a snort and 'humph', the way only Kratos can.

A thought dawned on me. Stephen had been unusually quiet through all this. True enough, Stephen was gone.

"Well, I'll just leave you two alone." I said and turned to walk out the door.

Noishe gently grabbed the arm of my coat in his teeth.

"Okay, I don't need to be able to talk to you to understand that one. Kratos, you're stuck with me! If you must, blame Noishe."

Kratos smiled slightly and Noishe gave a dog's grin.

"Noishe, I want you to give this to Lloyd. You know how important it is." Kratos said and handed the locket to Noishe.

"Why didn't you give it to Lloyd yourself?" I asked.

"I wanted to avoid awkward questions. The past is…over. No one can do anything about it. If I continue on as I have been doing, how long is it before I turn into Mithos, consumed by my grief?"

"You could never become like that. Don't say that! You know and accept the past is over. You would never do anything like that, Kratos!"

There was a thoughtful silence.

"I only ask about the locket and look where we end up. Kratos, I think there is someone who knows you better than you know yourself. Why don't you ask them?"

"Where is Yuan?"

"Just south of here, on one of the islands. It's harder to get there by sea than by air, trust me." I remembered playing the game, trying to get to the Renegade base and spending half an hour navigating the little islands!

"…Thanks." Kratos mumbled before pulling out his turquoise wings and flying away.

My jaw was hanging. Kratos had said 'thanks'! Dear diary, today Kratos has actually told someone he appreciated their help!

I stayed in my hotel room until dawn broke. I wished I could bring my DS with me when I went into worlds. Although it would probably cause too much fuss. Passing four hours without doing anything was so boring.

Eventually, a weak sun rose on the frozen continent of Flanior. I was actually pleased; for once it wasn't snowing. I got outside the fastest way possible. (barring jumping out the window!)

I think I wore away the stone pavement tapping my foot waiting for the group to assemble. Hey, I was bored!

Finally, everyone had finished yawning and planning. Lloyd, Zelos, Colette and Genis took the Rheairds. I turned into a Canadian Goose, which can fly pretty far in cold weathers.

We picked up the rest off the group who were at Altessa's house. I stayed outside and saw the whole conversation between Kratos and Zelos. This really wasn't looking good for the whole 'don't kill anyone' thing. Wait, when _did_ I start a 'don't kill anyone' thing?

Anyway, somehow my mind stayed on one track all the way to the Tower of Salvation.

He's going to die. Oh. My. God, he's going to die.

Zelos would never make it on my list of favourite videogame characters of all time (that's reserved for Kratos, Xelha, Link, Rydia, Talim, Jade…) but I can't let him die!

The white tower stood as a symbol of everything I hated right now. I took great pleasure in the knowledge that in two days it'd be gone. I reluctantly stepped inside.

"Now what? Don't we need to teleport up to the higher levels?" Stephen asked.

"Don't worry, I prepared a little something the last time we were here." Zelos assured the group. "Colette, come here a minute."

I had to clam down **really** hard with my self-control to stop myself from screaming, 'Colette, don't!'

Stephen sent me a warning glance, to which I nodded slightly.

Colette walked towards the seal and was completely surrounded by angels and the one leading them, Pronyma. It went without saying that everyone was stunned.

"Zelos!" I shouted, trying to keep at least the air around me under control. It whipped through my hair at an alarming speed and whirled round me, a sure sign that the wind shared my anger.

The angels teleported off with Colette, leaving Zelos.

"Dammit, Zelos, you piece of shimazaki. No matter how much you want to, you are not going to die, you suicidal son of a gast."

Sheena and Zelos had their mouths gaping wide open for using words that they thought only they knew, the rest of the group had their mouths open because of my shouting fit and the information revealed in my shouting fit.

I was tempted to drop a pin, to hear it's echo, that's how silent things were. Then…

Lloyd said shakily, "You knew?"

I turned away, finding a random piece of floor suddenly interesting. "Stephen did too."

"Thanks, Nia." Stephen said sarcastically.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Lloyd asked.

"Hello! You have just had the information that Zelos wants to die and you're questioning me?"

"Zelos, why?" Lloyd asked.

"There are easier, and less painful ways of committing suicide, you idiot!" Sheena shouted.

"I guess I didn't think." Zelos said coolly.

"Zelos, tell them the truth." Stephen said.

"You know…everything?" Zelos asked, shaken.

"I've lost my patience. Now you tell them, or I do." I threatened.

"Alright. I was getting some Aionis. That's why I joined Cruix."

"Aionis? The mineral found in legends and fairy tales?" Raine asked.

"Why?" Lloyd asked.

"To make the ring of the pact for a human to wield the Eternal Sword."

"Well, what now?" Genis asked.

"We go and save Colette, then we'll face Mithos!" Lloyd said with the usual enthusiasm.

So we stepped on the warp and teleported up.

* * *

This chapter was going to be longer, but I know I haven't given you guys recent updates. My motto shall be: blame exams!

A matter of not enough reviews has come to my attention…I have approximately 0 for the last four chapters. Review or…Kratos dies! (…wait, I couldn't do that…) Okay, review or…Zelos dies! Yes, I know I just saved him this chapter, but a lot of things can go wrong…


	17. How many monkeys bouncing on the bed?

Yahoo! I'm looking at about three weeks of three lessons (except in Welsh!) and then holidays! I have a new GBA game, Final Fantasy IV (double woohoo); it's awesome! I'm hoping that this fanfic will be done before the holidays, and I can either focus on a sequel or Kratos' life story…K's life story it is, skip a couple of (thousand) years.

I don't own Tales of Symphonia! So get off my back! Or Chad Kroger's_ Hero.

* * *

_

As we were climbing up Derris-Kharlan, a song came into my mind.

_I'm so high, I can hear Heaven._ (Heaven, Derris-Kharlan, same place!)

_I'm so high, I can hear Heaven._

_Oh, no, Heaven. Oh, no, Heaven, don't hear me._

_And they say that a hero will save us, _

_I'm not gonna stand here and wait,_

_I'll hold on to the wings of the heroes,_

_Watch as they all fly away._

I was thinking about Mithos, and how he must have been before Martel's death.

_Someone told me love would all save us,_

_How could that be, look what love gave us,_

_A world full of killing and the spilling,_

_That world never came._

_And they say that a hero will save us, _

_I'm not gonna stand here and wait,_

_I'll hold on to the wings of the heroes,_

_Watch as they all fly away._

Isn't that song so suited to Tales of Symphonia?

We entered the 'rock room' as I have now named it; it's other names being the 'see-saw room' and 'how-the-(beep)-do-you-get up-there?' room. (Twice I've spent ages trying to get to where the rock is; you think I would have remembered it the second time!)

To save us the time and effort of getting up there, I simply flew up and scorched the vines. This caused the rock to fall down on the 'see-saw' and make sure it stayed at the right level that we wanted.

Going through another we arrived in a room that looked oddly like a church, with high, arched ceilings. My brain wasn't working properly, and failed to recognise where I was. I got knocked onto my back by an angel with black wings.

"Nia, concentrate! Here and now!" Stephen shouted.

I snapped back into a state of mind that resembled alert. Then I proceeded to destroy the angel that had attacked me. Following our battle a church bell rung. Then I remembered where we were.

"Shizer. Lloyd, remember that there's an exit over there. If…" I was cut off by the simultaneous flapping of about fifty wings.

"Run!" Stephen said. Most of us got out of the only exit.

Of course, Regal kicked down the pillars on either side of the door, blocking the angels. That's when I noticed who else was still inside the room.

"Stephen! You…you knew! How could you?" I shouted.

"I'll be fine, you know that. You also know what you must do."

"You like to make things tricky, don't you? I…"

"Come on, hurry up!" Genis shouted from the teleport.

Eight little monkeys bouncing on the bed,

Two jumped off and banged their head,

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,

'No more monkeys bouncing on the bed!'

Six little monkeys bouncing on the bed…

I ran on to the teleport. We were in a room with narrow walkways all over. Nothing particularly fascinating in here, so we walked onto another teleport.

This room was quite dark, and I could barely see where I was going.

I summoned fire to the palm of my hand. "That's better." I said to myself quietly.

Then my jaw dropped. In front of me was a walkway, about 5 meters wide. On either side – a bottomless black pit.

"Well, that's original." I muttered sarcastically.

The remnants of a tree root were hanging above the walkway. Not just any old tree. A three thousand foot tree high on Miracle-Gro (don't own!) would be proud of this root.

"Why do remnants have to be so powerful?" I muttered to myself. I was thinking about the remnants of Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII (how many times must I say, 'I don't own!') as well as this tree.

Lloyd tried to walk across, but the tree root suddenly moved and whacked him back the way he came. (Luckily not to the sides!)

"Now what?"

There was silence for a full minute. Sheena had her head down, her face showing confliction.

Finally, Sheena's voice broke the silence. "I think I can destroy that overgrown root. Using the Summon Spirit's and my mana I can create my own version of the mana cannon. When I give the signal, run underneath."

Sheena summoned the Tethe'alla summon spirits and told them to gather their mana in front of her. She then aimed and shot it at the remnant of the Kharlan tree.

"Now!" She shouted.

We all ran across the walkway. We could see Sheena weakening as held up the stream of mana.

Zelos ran back across the walkway, a split second before the root crashed through, stranding both Zelos and Sheena. Sheena's knees buckled and she began to fall forward, into the pit. Zelos jumped, snagging one hand in a rock crevice and grabbing Sheena's wrist with his other hand.

"Sheena, Zelos!" Lloyd shouted.

"Don't worry about me, Lloyd. I'm just resting. I'll climb out and help you take on Mithos. So you'd better save me a piece of the action, okay?"

"You'd better be there, Sheena." Lloyd said before we hurried out the door.

Four little monkeys bouncing on the bed…

Why didn't we stay until after Sheena and Zelos had fallen? Thinking about it, I decided that we didn't want their deaths to be final. Which, of course, they weren't, but I was the only one who knew that.

How would I fake my own death? I looked around at the small group we had left: Genis, Presea and Raine. I definitely couldn't 'die' with Genis, because I had good reflexes. Presea was a no-go, unless I purposely got snagged by the vine, but someone may point out that I could burn it. That left Raine.

Who was next to go anyway?

"This door's locked." Lloyd said.

"I can go through the hole up there. I'm the only one small enough to get through." Presea said.

Compared to the rest of us, Presea was tiny. She was an inch shorter than Genis, even! We agreed that Presea should go through the hole and open the door from the other side.

The rest, we all know about. (OK, I'll forgive WSM for not knowing…) Presea got tied up by a sentient vine, we couldn't help her because the door was closing, and Presea couldn't sever the vine with her axe because she'd used it to keep the door open for us.

And then there were three little monkeys bouncing on the bed…

We came to the computer room. Raine immediately ran to the console in the middle of the huge room.

"Can I help?" I asked. I knew from experience that people working on computers appreciated it if you asked before touching anything.

"I'm not sure that you should…" Raine started.

I typed in something on the computer, and the first door in the multi-layered steel door opened.

"You know what I'm doing, don't you?" Raine asked. I nodded. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

After another minute of hacking the second stage opened, revealing a monster, which was easily dealt with by Lloyd and Genis. Two corner tiles of the room fell into nothingness. I quickly counted the tiles.

Including the tile that housed the computer there were now seven tiles.

"Nia, Professor!" Lloyd shouted.

"Just a computing error. We're opening the next door."

It opened and another monster was inside.

"Another computer error?" Lloyd asked.

"No, now hurry up and kill that thing!" Raine sounded beyond stressed!

After the defeat of the monster, the floor tiles started falling down randomly, but always leaving one tile, ours.

"You didn't make any mistakes, did you? Dammit, I'm sick of people being sacrifices!" Lloyd said.

"Since when did anyone become a sacrifice?" Raine asked.

"We all chose to help you. We all chose…Lloyd, I wish you luck against Mithos."

"No, I won't leave you!"

"Lloyd, this room will collapse soon. If you are still here when this happens, then everyone who help you, all those lives, will have been for nothing." I said.

"Thank you…" Lloyd said, but didn't move.

"Go!" Both Raine and I shouted.

Lloyd and Genis forced themselves out of the door, as the tile beneath my feet fell…

* * *

This was a really hard chapter to write, and if I don't get at least one review, I am going to…(well, it worked last time…) kill Zelos! Wait, I have a threat that I can carry out! If no one reviews, Pronyma _won't_ die! 

But every one who has reviewed does deserve some credit, so thank you: Bloody Jack Lover, WSM, Sunfrost, GenisAddict, FiressOfFlames,Scientific Angel, Alexa Aurion andJana-Yggdrasil.


	18. Pronyma

Back again! Who rocks? Wait, why am I so happy? Oh, well, it's a mystery to me, too.

I don't own Tales of Symphonia! (Even that didn't dampen my mood…maybe I'm sugar high!)

In other news, this was my fastest prepared chapter! (only three days!) Then, the internet computer (thankfully this was just on my computer) which meant that I couldn't post! Waaaaa!

* * *

I was standing on a platform, hurtling down a bottomless pit at an obscenely fast speed.

Out of the darkness, a pair of luminous turquoise blobs came, stopped around where Raine was, then shouted over the rush of the air, "Fly, Nia…for Martel's sake, fly!"

Yeah, seemed like a good idea. I manipulated the air around me, so it supported me and then I got some fire out to cast some light on the situation.

Of course, the blue blobs were Kratos' wings.

"Hello." I said.

Yes, my brain was still recovering from a blood rush and couldn't think properly. Luckily, at times like this, Kratos' intellect can cover for two people.

"Don't worry, Stephen's safe, as is everyone else who got stuck in the Derris-Kharlan traps. There's an air duct big enough to walk through, about twenty meters up on the right, so keep an eye out."

I obediently followed instructions and found this air duct. When I was in the air duct my brain had recovered, although it was still high on adrenaline. I was greeted by the rest of the group, minus Lloyd, Colette and Genis, obviously.

"Are we going to save Genis?" Kratos asked coldly, back in mercenary mode.

"Moody angel. Still, I can see why he has all of the fangirls after him…" I muttered, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Kratos turned bright red, but quickly rushed ahead to avoid everyone seeing. I felt my mission was complete.

Navigating through the many air ducts of Derris-Kharlan wasn't a problem as long as we followed Kratos.

As we were walking, I asked Kratos, "Have you opened the door for Lloyd?"

"…"

"You forgot!" I screeched.

Kratos and Zelos covered their ears because of their angelic hearing.

"Kratos, you go and open the door."

"What about Genis?"

"We'll save him?"

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"

"Okay, okay. I'll open the door, and you save Genis."

"Do you know where to go?"

"Now's a good a time as any to find out."

Kratos sighed. "Follow this shaft until you can go straight up. Go up, left, left again and-" He was cut off.

"I know which way to go." Zelos butted in.

"Yeah…and he's got the dagger." I added.

Then I noticed everyone staring at us as if we're mental. Which may be true for me, but…

"What?"

"How can you hold a conversation that long, that fast and still understand it?"

I sighed in exasperation.

"I'm going. Zelos, lead the way. Wait…I get stuck with Zelos!"

I followed Zelos all the way to the room, watched him stick the dagger in the door and realised I didn't actually need to come. I hate doing pointless things. Especially if it means coming within ten miles of Zelos.

We rejoined the group and made our grand entrance, saving Lloyd's sorry butt. More precisely, Genis saved Lloyd, by using Fireball on Mithos and I felt like throwing in my own fireball for the sheer heck of it.

"You're alive? But those traps…" Lloyd asked.

"Kratos saved us." I said with a smile.

"Lloyd, let's defeat Mithos, together." Genis said.

We jumped off the platform that was fairly high off the ground and turned to face Mithos. Pronyma stepped directly in-between us and Mithos. Obviously we were fighting her first.

I thought it was slightly unfair. In the game, Pronyma is outnumbered four-to-one. If Stephen and I hadn't interfered, they'd have six-to-one, with Colette still imprisoned and someone holding all the items. Now, though, we have nine-to-one, with Raine holding the items, which obviously don't affect her ability to cast magic. Ten-to-one then…I like those odds!

Let's put it this way: within ten seconds of actual fighting, I no longer thought it was unfair. Turns out that Agarazium really, really, hurts.

(A/N I lost the sheet with Pronyma's attacks, so I had to go all the way back to read chapter 10…that was so long ago!)

I stayed mid-range, hurling 'distracting' hurricane-force winds at her.

Our close range fighters, namely Lloyd, Presea, Zelos, Sheena, Regal and Stephen were all crowded around Pronyma. Actually, Presea got a lot of room, since everyone didn't want to be hit by a giant axe.

"Stephen, Zelos, go mid-range you idiots! It's crowded enough around there." I shouted.

"Nia, you're doing that rounders thing again." Stephen shouted back to me.

I always shouted orders, or encouragement during a rounders game. I was easily the most communicative person on the team.

(A/A/N Rounders is a British version of baseball, from what I've gathered from American movies.)

Once Zelos and Stephen moved, our mid-range fighters consisted of Stephen, Zelos, me and Kratos. (Who was there all along because he's clever.)

Finally, Raine and Genis were casting spells from as far away as possible.

Normally, Sheena would keep to basic attacks, occasionally throwing in a Life Seal to steal some of Pronyma's health and to top hers up.

Lloyd was going mad on techs. His swords were a blur, moving from Double Demon Fang to Tempest in approximately 0.2 seconds.

Presea was just swinging her immense axe. I don't know all of Presea's techniques off by heart, so I watched as she shouted her various tech names and swung her axe. I still didn't catch which one was which, though.

Regal was a similar story, except I knew absolutely nothing whatsoever about his techs.

Zelos and Kratos were doing similar jobs, helping Raine heal, or just casting occasional spells.

But Genis was the one really doing damage. He was pelting Pronyma with spells like Grave, Spark Wave and Freeze Lancer, casting them in a matter of seconds, thanks to Speed Cast, Rhythm and Randomizer, three of the EX Skills Genis happened to have on.

(A/A/A/N If you have a copy of ToS handy, try it! You need Lv1 – Tough, Lv3 – Rhythm, Lv4 – Speed Cast, and Randomizer should be a new EX Skill found because of Tough and Rhythm. Don't say I never give you stuff!)

Raine, was as normal, either healing, or casting Photon. Because Pronyma was weak against light attacks, she was trying to do the latter more often, and let Kratos and Zelos take care of healing.

Five times Pronyma aimed Aqua Laser at me, luckily Stephen brought it towards him those five times.

Finally, when I thought I'd collapse from sheer lack of mental energy, Pronyma fell to the ground, not quite dead.

Our attention turned to Mithos, who was watching the cocoon like structure, in which Colette was currently imprisoned.

"Let her go!" Lloyd's request fell on deaf ears.

We heard the sound of an airtight seal being opened, and Colette's body stepped out.

I thought it was sadly ironic that Colette was never able to escape her fate as a Chosen.

"Colette?" Lloyd asked, daring to hope.

When Colette opened her mouth, it wasn't her voice, heavy with despair, that said, "Mithos, what have you done?"

The tone of Martel's voice made tears well up in my eyes.

"Oh, this. I changed my body to a form befitting the leader of Cruix. I'll change back." Mithos suddenly looked twelve instead of twenty.

"No, not that. I've watched you for four thousand years, unable to do or say anything, watching all the people you've made suffer. I'm going to give this girl her body back."

"You aren't happy with that body, are you?"

"Mithos, listen to me. This is my true last request. Please, reunite the two worlds, and end all this suffering." Something sparkled and everyone sensed Martel had left.

Mithos seemed to be sobbing, but those sobs soon turned into malevolent laughter.

"You just didn't like this world, did you? We'll go away on Derris-Kharlan, somewhere far away."

"I think he's snapped." I muttered.

"What will happen to the world if Derris-Kharlan goes?" Lloyd asked.

"Eventually, with out it's mana supply, everything will die."

Colette started with alarm. "I can still hear Martel's voice. She wants us to stop Mithos, even if…"

"You're lying! Martel would never say that." Mithos argued.

Colette was indignant with being called a liar. "It's true! Martel wants us to reunite the worlds."

"Shut up!" Mithos shouted as he shot a ball of mana at Colette.

I lost Lloyd's angry remark, but needless to say, we found ourselves in battle with Mithos. (again!)

* * *

My fastest ever chapter! Three days. So, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the teachers who are on the Duke of Edinburgh and didn't leave work for us to do. I also want to thank the supply teachers for being so understanding, although maybe there should have been a limit to this. (Some people had phones out in class and the teachers couldn't really have cared less)

Review, please. Special thanks to GenisAddict who has now reviewed twice in a row! And thanks to Sunfrost, whom I couldn't reply to since he/she (sorry!) hasn't got a signed username.


	19. The Beginingof the End

Mez's welsh phase for today: _Beth bunnag, dydw i ddim yn meddu Tales o Symphonia. _

Anyway, I don't own Tales of Symphonia. (Just in case Welsh lawyers are after me! Okay, now I know why Ross calls me paranoid…but I call him depressed, so I was asking for it. Oh, look, I'm rambling!)

* * *

I wasn't looking forward to facing the Seraph, but I couldn't honestly say that I was dreading it – you need some warning, if only a second, to dread something. I didn't have the luxury of that second before Mithos attacked.

My brain normally had a good endurance for controlling my elements, but right now I was brain-dead, and knew I could make some fatal mistakes if I tried anymore wind control. I moved in to fight short-range. Not the best idea, but at least this way, if I made a mistake, it would only kill me.

Wait…did I really think that? I must be more tired than I thought! I moved further away, trying to give my brain time to recuperate.

The battle seemed to be taking a turn for the worse. Everyone was badly hurt and Raine didn't have the time or mana to heal them all.

"Raine, here." I said, and handed her a Melange Gel.

That took care of the mana problem. Now, if only Mithos would stop casting spells…

It must be said that I don't always like my own ideas. "Hey, Mithos! Over here!" To be honest, I wasn't expecting it not to work, as the idea was so clichéd. I guess evil villains don't have time to watch pathetically predictable movies, though.

For my shout, I earned a Photon. Still, it had distracted him. I carried on the clichéd hero's calls.

"Is that all you've got?"

Holy Lance.

Pulling myself to my feet once again…"You weakling!"

Ray.

I ran out of clichéd things to say, when… "Nurse!"

Raine had managed to heal everyone. Battles went on as normal.

There was one brilliant part where Yggdrasil used Outburst to knock everyone nearby into the air. Stephen and I took advantage of this to send a blast of fire and water at him, then as Lloyd was landing, he slashed down with one blade.

Again, it was Lloyd's blow that ended the battle. Mithos, after all this time, was dead.

Kratos cut any celebrations short. "What exactly did this battle change? You must still form the pact with Origin. I shall wait for you in Torrent forest, beyond Heimdall."

Kratos walked away. Acting on an impulse, I crept away behind him.

I didn't manage to get ten meters away when… "I can hear you perfectly well, Nia."

"It wasn't you I was trying to stay hidden from." I retorted.

"You shouldn't come with me."

"**You** shouldn't be on your own at a time like this."

"You're **not** coming with me." Kratos tried using his adult authority.

Like it was going to work on someone who knew Tales of Symphonia inside out!

"Fine, I'll just follow you on my own." I said. "And you have Lloyd to thank for giving me that line."

Kratos gave that weird snort. I followed him regardless.

When Kratos took out his wings to fly to Heimdall, I hesitated. Despite the words he said earlier, he stopped.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Which bird I'll be. I could be a buzzard, or a red kite, or a peregrine falcon, or a kestrel, or a…"

"How long does this list go for?"

"Alright, I think I'll be…a golden eagle, for a change."

Random fact time: The golden eagle is Britain's largest raptor with a wingspan of 190-250cm. In flight the silhouette has quite straight wings and a long tail.

I took off, with a couple of powerful wing beats. Once aloft, I caught a thermal to soar upwards.

Kratos drew alongside me, then shot forward.

I smiled mentally. It almost seemed like Kratos wanted a race.

I swooped down in what would normally be a killing move, gabbing Kratos' arm in my talons, but not squeezing as hard as I would have, if I were a hungry bird killing a mouse.

"What would have happened if you'd missed?" Kratos asked.

'_I would have collided with you, maybe crippled a wing and fell.'_ I didn't sound put off at all, mainly because I wasn't. The air was my home and nothing could go wrong.

'_There's Heimdall.'_ I noticed.

The village was easily recognisable from the air due to the large ring of water around it.

'Wait, will the elves even let me in? Me being a half-elf and all…' I asked.

"You are with me." I didn't get another word from him as we landed just out side Heimdall.

Random fact: In Norse mythology Heimdall is the guardian of a rainbow bridge that linked the world of the humans (Midguard) with the world of the warrior gods (Asguard). Moving on…

"Kratos!" The guards obviously recognised our purple swordsman. Did I mention that purple's a really cool colour?

"Can I see the elder?" Kratos asked.

"Sure, you know where he lives. Just a question, but what is that bird doing on your shoulder? In fact, what is that bird?" The nosy guard asked.

'_That 'bird' is non-of-his-business!'_ I thought aloud.

Kratos was smiling at my pert, yet honest response.

"I am told that the bird is a golden eagle and as for what it's doing on my shoulder, I suggest you ask her yourself." Kratos left some very confused guards behind him when we left for the elder's house.

I was half-tempted to stay behind and creep out the guards, but I knew I needed to listen to what the elder would say.

I swear, the first words out of the elder's mouth were, "What is that bird doing on your shoulder?"

I got slightly annoyed. _'I have a name you know. Nia! N-I-A!'_

The elder wore a bemused expression, and I knew he'd heard me. He turned to Kratos for explanation.

"You aren't the first person to ask." He explained. Changing subjects, he asked, "May I enter Torrent Forest?"

"You know you need not ask permission to enter, Kratos."

'_Wait, what makes you so special, Kratos?'_ I asked.

"You know Mithos used to live in Heimdall, don't you? Then, when the Kharlan War started he got thrown out.

Once he'd split the worlds with the Eternal Sword he wanted revenge. It was only because I was Origin's seal that Mithos actually listened to me." Kratos explained.

'_But that must have been generations ago.'_

"It was, but the elves never forgot. After all, if their ancestors had died, they wouldn't be here now."

"I assume Lloyd will come through here soon." The elder said.

'Kratos, explain about Genis, Raine and Stephen. Otherwise they may have a hard time.'

"Lloyd is currently travelling with three half-elves. Would it be possible to show them the same hospitality as you no doubt will do for the humans?"

"For you, we shall try." The elder was sincere.

"Then, I'd better depart."

We left. Well, Kratos left, I just hung on for dear life from my comfortable perch.

"Would you mind not squeezing that hard? That is my sword arm." Kratos muttered.

I relaxed my grip slightly and the red flush that had come up in his hand faded.

Kratos drew out his turquoise wings (Nia's note: I want!) and flew to Origins shrine.

* * *

I'm leaving you there for two reasons.

1. It means I can do a double update.

2. More importantly, I want the next chapter to be completely separate from this one.

Review! Obviously I can't mention people who reviewed last chapter, because I'm putting them up at the same time, but thanks go to everyone who does review.

And I want people to start telling me whether they'd prefer me to do the sequel to this, or the Kranna fic next. I know I said they were the same fic, but I decided to separate them. Please tell me, because right now, I'm thinking a lot about the sequel.


	20. Elemental Memories

Bloody Jack Lover is going to end up killing me after this chapter…I haven't done the scene she's been pestering me for! (It gets close though!)

Come on, why hasn't anyone reviewed the last couple of chapters?

_Rydw i'n ddicllon achos doedd ddim 'review' 'da fi!_

_Ond, mae Mithos yn angel ô dan y coeden Nadolig!_

Apart from my random ramblings in Welsh…

I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Just thought I'd clear that up with you.

* * *

We didn't actually land by the shrine, but I could see it from here. Night was soon approaching, and since I wanted a fire, we had a fire. Okay, originally it was Kratos' suggestion, but I wasn't exactly going to turn it down.

"Do you want me to light it?" He asked.

"I can do it myself." I half laughed and bent down to get the fire going.

I concentrated, but only the tiniest flame lapped at the twigs, and even that made me feel light-headed.

"Okay, I can't do it." I muttered, and let Kratos take care of it.

"Why don't you like accepting help?" Kratos asked.

"I accept other people's help." I said, slightly indignant.

"Rarely. I think you don't want to feel as though you owe someone."

I thought about that, and decided that it was true.

"I'm probably more stubborn than I realise. But…I think you're the same. You don't want to rely on anyone, in case they suddenly aren't there any more, am I right?"

"I wasn't always like that." There was something different about Kratos… "I accepted help and gave it in equal measures. But…" Kratos' voice was trembling and I was sure I heard the tiniest of sobs.

Was this actually Kratos…crying?

"I must be a heartless swine of the worst sort."

"What? Why?"

"What kind of father asks his son to kill him? It wasn't as if I've ever been there for him."

"Things can't be any different. I wish they could be." I felt now, more than ever, that I wanted to tell Kratos the truth. He's going to release the seal alright, but…

"Kratos…I know I'm not anywhere near as old as you, but you can do some really stupid things sometimes." I was struggling for something to say when I remembered an old saying. "You've probably never heard of, _'Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow, we die.'_ I never quite understood that until now."

"You mean, what's the point of moping over what you can't change?" When I looked quizzically at him saying so uncharacteristic things, he explained, "That's how Anna would have put it."

"Oh." I wasn't quite sure what to say while the topic was on Anna.

"Nia, in the time that I've known you, you have become…close to me. You are one of the few people I could call a friend."

"Thank you." For the first time since coming to Symphonia, glad tears filled my eyes. "Kratos, no matter where I go, or who I meet, I shall always remember you."

Silence ruled over the forest for a couple of seconds, neither of us sure what to say next.

"_Heno, heno, hen plant bach…_" I sung quietly.

(A/N This a slow lullaby, with 'heno' being two separate notes. He-no, he-no, etc…)

"Tonight, tonight, dear little child…I used to sing that to Lloyd when he was a baby." Kratos muttered.

I smiled.

The weak light of dawn broke over the forest while I was teaching Kratos some simple 'angelic' songs. (_Mi welais Jack o daw, Holia cicia, Dau ci fach_!)

Kratos suddenly got all serious. "Nia, I don't want you to be there when I release the seal."

"Kratos, I promise you that I will not be there when you die." I wasn't exactly lying, but I felt guilty all the same.

"I should wait for Lloyd. I want you to know, I am consoled by the fact that it will be a fair fight this morning. Lloyd is strengthened by his bond with his friends."

I didn't have the heart to tell Kratos that Lloyd would fight alone.

"I'd better get going if you don't want me to be there."

"Nia, one last thing. Remember you promised me you'd protect Lloyd? Don't forget that. Once this is all over, you can go back to whatever you do. But until then, please, look after my son."

"I will." I said solemnly.

I turned into a peregrine, the darkest coloured bird I could think of while still feeling comfortable.

'Fare thy well, Kratos Aurion.'

I flew off, caught a thermal and soared upwards. I scanned the ground for any sign of the group navigating their way through the forest. I truly felt sorry for everyone.

Random fact: Stress can deplete your body's store of Vitamin C. It can also cause spots. (Ah, the wonders of science!)

If that was true, then I was surprised that most of the members of the group haven't had scurvy by now!

Moving on, Lloyd had arrived at Origin's shrine. I was too far up to hear the words, but I knew that Lloyd was saying he'd fight alone.

Little purple blob and little red blob rushed towards each other, then moved very little, from what I could see. Little red blob suddenly moved from one side of little purple blob to the other, so I guessed Lloyd used Tempest. Then it went back to normal. The two blobs eventually stopped moving. Little red had won, as was dictated by fate.

I knew Lloyd had refused to kill Kratos himself, so Kratos released the mana in his body to release the seal.

Enter little turquoise blob. (A.K.A Yuan)

Yuan gave Kratos some of his mana to stop him from dying, then Kratos moans about not being able to die!

I would have palmed my face if not for the fact that bird wings don't bend that way, and even if I could, it would cause me to lose my balance and crash.

Enter really tiny, glowing red blob. (That would be Mithos' Cruix Crystal that Genis didn't destroy! What is the point of pity!)

Anyway, tiny red blob floats towards little red blob. And nobody comes to save Lloyd. Not one person. I wait; maybe someone will step out in the next second…

Flashback 

"_Nia, one last thing. Remember you promised me you'd protect Lloyd? Don't forget that. Once this is all over, you can go back to whatever you do. But until then, please, look after my son."_

"_I will." I said solemnly. _

End flashback 

I hate emotional blackmail.

'Someone will come…one, one thousand, two, one thousand…aw, stuff it. I'll save him.'

I swooped down in the characteristic falcon dive, gaining speed every second.

'It's still not too late to turn back…okay, now it is."

I flared out my wings, slowing myself down as I neared the ground. I turned half-elven, and grabbed the Cruix Crystal.

"Nia!" I heard Stephen shout.

"I can hide my memories from him." I said. I didn't add the 'I think', which would have worried him.

"Fine, I'll just take this body." I heard Mithos say before everything went black.

All around me was black. I couldn't move. The only way I knew I wasn't blind is that I could see my own hands.

Suddenly, Mithos appeared in front of me. Strangely, I wasn't angry. I knew that I'd need every drop of emotion, especially anger, later.

"Where am I?"

"It surprises me how little people know the interior of their own mind."

"Not that, mole. I was wondering where my body was." Saying mole to stupid people was a hard habit to break. It all started with someone at school whom everyone called mole. The only time I'd talk to him was when he was being particularly thick or annoying, so I called him mole.

"We're at Derris-Kharlan. Of course, those traitors died at your hands before we left."

I calmly inspected my fingernails. "Tell me all about it."

"It was a pitiful fight. Your strength overwhelmed them. Not to mention they clearly didn't want to attack you."

"Really?"

"You don't sound remorseful. Don't you care about them?"

"Yep, I care about them."

"So, why aren't you sad?"

"Because you are a pitiful liar. I've spent two years with an extremely good liar, and if I can see through him, you're nothing. A little pathetic, unimaginative little boy."

"If that's the case, how come I am the one currently controlling your body?"

"Because I haven't chosen to get rid of you yet."

"I think you're lying. Who would tolerate someone else in their body longer than necessary?"

"Believe what you will. It doesn't matter to me if you believe me or not."

There was a welcome silence. Then…

"That's…different." Mithos said.

"What? What is it?" I asked.

A square opened besides me, and through it, I could see one of my memories, which Mithos was currently looking at.

"_Where should we go next?" Stephen had asked._

"_Hmm, I'd like to go to the Edge world."_

"_Aww, not a book world!"_

"_Hey! You'd like it if you gave it a chance!"_

"_Darren Shan! Let's go to his world!"_

_I sighed. "That's a book world too."_

"_Yeah, but it's a cooler book!"_

_I gritted my teeth. "Ro-sham-bo, then?" When I saw Stephen's confused look, I clarified. "Rock, paper, scissors."_

"_Oh, okay. One, two, three…"_

_I had paper and Stephen had scissors._

"_Darren Shan it is…"_

"What was that?" Mithos asked.

I whistled innocently.

"I demand that you tell me!" Mithos shouted.

I kept my cool, disinterested appearance up, knowing that was what would annoy him most. Inside, though, I wanted nothing more than to give him a good slap.

"Fine, wallow in your own pain!"

Another memory opened up.

"_Nia, it's your turn to wash up." My mother reminded me of my chores._

"_I can't." I stated the two words calmly._

"_Why not?"_

"_It hurts. The water hurts."_

"_That's never stopped you before."_

"_I've worn gloves recently."_

"_So, you can wear the gloves again." This was accompanied by a fake smile._

"_There is a hole in them." I stuck to the calm, quiet tone of voice, no matter how much I wanted to yell._

"_Then you'll have to do without."_

_I cried out in frustration, stuck my hand directly underneath the tap, and turned the handle._

_I screamed in agony as the water burned through my skin, my blood, my bone, yet I didn't move my hand until a perfectly circular hole, the size of a coin, went straight through my hand._

_I turned the tap off and brandished my hand._

_My mother promptly fainted._

Recalling the pain as the water forced a path through my hand, I winced and subconsciously rubbed the palm of my hand.

"Surround yourself in misery!" Mithos shouted.

_I was sitting on the grass outside, in school. My friends were watching the boys playing football. (Do I really need to explain?)_

_I was watching a buzzard flying over the fields. He had made it a routine._

_From far off, I heard a shot and the buzzard plummeted. _

_I didn't realised that I was running until I got to the buzzard's, now dead, body._

_I was shaking with suppressed anger and tears._

"Leave me alone!" I shouted at Mithos. "What have I ever done to you?"

"You betrayed our blood."

It took me a full five seconds to realise what he was talking about. I was a half-elf in this world, despite my being a human at heart.

"I'm doing what I believe is right."

"Nothing will change. Half-elves will never have a place in this world, unless we make it."

"Have you ever wondered about the half-elves that aren't Desians, like the Renegades, or just an average half-elf who wants an easy life? Because of the Desians killing humans, humans fear and hate the half-elves. It's a vicious circle."

"Tethe'alla was once like Sylvarant, remember. When the Desians left, they still hated the half-elves, even though all the ones that were killing were gone."

"I never said that humans were smart. Most of them are quite idiotic, and some of them will carry a grudge through the generations."

"Then what can the half elves do?"

"Hang on, you're asking me? I'm fourteen, and you are, what, four thousand and fourteen?"

A voice, unlike Mithos' or mine broke through the darkness.

* * *

And…cut.

_Weithion roeddet ti'n darllen fy 'fanfic'; ysgrifennwch 'review'._

Now you've read my fanfic; write a review. (I used the respectful command…does that earn me any brownie points?)

For some reason, I don't like Welsh lessons, but I like the language! (and the scenery!)

Thanks to Sunfrost; she's reviewed three times in a row. Thanks also to Bloody Jack Lover, who wanted this chapter to be alot more Mary Sueish, and to Jana-Yggdrasil, who helped me come up with some of the Mithos-Nia arguements.


	21. Rescue

This a little late up, because:

1) I'm trying to complete Sonic Adventure 2 Battle,

2) I needed to find out the colour of Yuan's wings,

3) I've just finished reading the Darren Shan books, (OMG! They are awesome. Read, now!)

4) I'll think of number 4.

I don't own Tales of Symphonia! (Why must I put this every chapter?)

* * *

A voice, unlike Mithos' or mine broke through the darkness.

"Nia, we've come to help you."

I recognised the voice. "Lloyd!"

Mithos wasn't so happy. "We were having a debate!"

Then Lloyd appeared in the dark space that, apparently, was my mind. (Although I don't quite buy the fact that my mind is completely black and featureless.) Another square opened in the wall and we found ourselves unable to look anywhere else.

I knew this was Mithos' memory, but I found myself looking at everything from outside Mithos, through my own eyes. I realised that I was standing where Lloyd was or would be standing in the game. A lifeless body lay on the ground. She had been a beautiful woman around 28, but now she was just a beautiful corpse. 

"_You killed my sister!" Mithos shouted. It seemed directed…at me!_

"_You would sacrifice her life in order to gain control of the mana flow?" Kratos sounded disgusted. I couldn't blame him._

_I wanted to protest, but knew it would have no effect. Lloyd, on the other hand…_

"_Kratos, what are saying? It's me, Lloyd!"…was simply clueless._

"_Lloyd, this is Mithos' memory of when Martel died. Don't let it get a hold on you. Remember, the past is over." I said._

My mind turned back to black, with the exception of Lloyd, Mithos and I.

"Lloyd, you'd better have a plan." I said.

"I'm working on it."

"My mental health is at stake here! I'm hearing voices in my head; I daren't say anything because somebody will hear me, that's paranoia; and the voice in my head wants to bring back his dead sister!"

"Nia, we've worked out that you either need a shock to get back in control, or a lot of strength emotionally. Which would you prefer?" Kratos' voice asked.

So Kratos had joined the group…I was glad. Although we still had Zelos. But, back to the Mithos problem…

"Force him out emotionally, please. How exactly do I do that?"

'_Nia, it's like using emotions while communicating telepathically.'_ Stephen 'thought' to bring his point home.

'Stephen, since when did you know a long word like 'communicating'?' 

I heard a sigh. _'Really not the time. Unless you enjoy having Mithos inhabiting your body?'_

'_Ew…'_

I thought hard, trying to block out Mithos, pushing him out, but I couldn't.

"I know I'm going to regret this…shock me."

I felt a strong electrical current rip through me, and I knew even before it ended that it wouldn't work.

"He's still here." I informed everyone.

"Nia, can you make it so that only Mithos can feel pain?"

"Yes." I half-guessed what Stephen was up to.

I withdrew from any possible sense of feeling I may have had. Since pain needs to be felt, Mithos' conscious was automatically 'sucked' to the nerve endings.

"Now!" I shouted.

Stephen shot some water onto my hand. Mithos screamed in agony and retreated back to his Cruix Crystal.

"Stop, STOP!" I shouted, having regained full feeling in my hand.

"Please, someone, I need fire." I said as I examined my hand.

It wasn't too badly damaged, but the skin was raw and close to drawing blood.

Someone cast a fire spell – I wasn't sure who – then my hand fingered the Cruix Crystal that had attached itself to the base of my neck. I knew without trying that it wouldn't come off. That still didn't mean I didn't try, though.

Eventually we moved on.

I whistled softly at the sight of the massive room the warp pad had taken us to, and the massive dragon guarding our way forward.

"Do we have to fight it?" I asked.

By now, everyone was tense, so I _shouldn't_ have been surprised when Raine snapped at me, saying, 'No, Nia, we don't _have_ to fight it. We didn't _have_ to save you and we don't _have _to save the worlds!"

I had to bite back a childish retort.

"Internal strife is pointless. Nia asked an obvious, but civil question. We should try to provide a civil answer." Kratos stated, in full mercenary mode.

Was Kratos defending me?

A wise decision was made – namely that we would rest in Derris-Kharlan for the night. I hoped it would de-stress everyone.

At first I was surprised that it was evening. It's quite like the feeling when you wake up a five a.m. and think to yourself, 'What time _is_ it?' I think that was due to Mithos.

We set up a fire using some of Derris-Kharlan's books. Raine wept for the loss of knowledge. I would have got her a book to distract her, but I hadn't forgiven her for earlier.

Later, Stephen and I had a chat, mentally, so no-one could hear us.

'_Stephen, remember when we first played Tales of Symphonia? We hadn't got to the Tower of Salvation yet, so we believed it had stairs…'_

'_Yeah, and I said that right at the top, Lloyd set a slinky off down the stairs!'_

I cast my gaze over the group. _'Lloyd has grown up a little since then. And so have we.'_

'_What's got into you?'_

'_It's nothing. I'm just wondering, "Why us? Why have we got these powers? For what reason?"'_

'_It almost sounds like you don't want this.'_

'_I like travelling around worlds, and I want to carry on doing it, but sometimes I wish I could be entirely truthful with my friends or that I could eat or drink whatever I want. I can't go swimming, or walk outside in the rain.' _I remembered the memory Mithos and I had seen._ 'Just something simple like washing the pots.' _A tear slid down my face._ 'Hell, I can't even cry anymore!' _I shouted mentally.

'_Nia, you think you have it so damn hard. We are both in the same situation here. Shouting and crying won't change anything.'_

'_I guess that makes sense.' _I reluctantly stopped the tears.

'_Oww, that hurt, you know.' _Stephen rubbed his head.

'_When I shouted? I'm sorry.'_

'_Don't worry. What are we going to do about Naois?'_

'_What do you mean?'_

'_She hasn't done much, so I'm guessing that she's building up her strength. I also guess that she's going to fight us at the same time as Mithos.'_

'_Okay, I'm scared. A super-charged Naois **and** Mithos? We'll be lucky to live through this.'_

'_I think I have a plan.'_

Stephen and I argued mentally for a while, until Kratos called Stephen over to talk about something.

That left me to my own devices. Everyone had already had dinner, so they were getting ready to sleep.

"We need someone on lookout throughout the night. This room looks safe enough, but I'd rather not take the risk." Raine said in a loud voice.

"Stephen and I won't sleep anyway, so we might as well." I volunteered.

Raine looked at me, trying to decide whether we'd slit their throats in the middle of the night. From the look on her face, I think she came up with the wrong answer.

"If you don't trust us, Kratos will always be awake so…never mind, you probably don't trust him either. Well, you're more than welcome to stay up with us."

In the end Raine decided that her sleep was more important.

The night dragged by slowly, like normal. Stephen, Kratos and I chatted quietly to pass the time.

"What are you going to do once this is over?" Kratos asked.

"The normal. Go back home, to school, family and friends. Live a normal life…for a week or so. Then…" I hesitated, thinking carefully.

"I'd like to go to Hyrule." Stephen offered.

"How many worlds have you been to?" Kratos asked.

"The first was Agorned…" Stephen said sadly.

"Then we went to the Soul Calibur world, where we learnt to fight better than we had already. Then we went to Midgar…"

"FF7," Stephen interjected.

"…where Stephen challenged Tifa to a fight, and lost. He would've fought Cloud if it weren't for me stopping him."

Stephen knew that Kratos would need an explanation. "Cloud uses a very big broadsword, which can split into two smaller swords. He's as good, if not better than you, Kratos."

"Then we went to…"

"Darren Shan!" Stephen shouted out.

"Hush! They're asleep, Stephen."

"Sorry, but that was a really cool world."

"Everyone dies."

"Not everyone."

"I can name at least five good people who died. In Darren's case, twice!"

"Um, yeah, so then I went to the, um…" Stephen coughed, "world."

"Which world would that be? I didn't quite catch the name." I asked, grinning evilly.

"You know which world I went to."

"Kratos doesn't."

"I would like to know the name."

Stephen sighed. "Althea. Winx Club. But that is much cooler than it sounds."

(A/N. Stephen is actually writing fanfics for Winx Club under the name BusterDragon, but when I search, his name doesn't come up. I'll put him on my favourite authors page if anyone is interested. That is yet another fanfic I've had to do grammar and spelling for! I should really charge.)

"While he was at Althea, I was at Tortal. The Immortal's quartet in particular."

"Wait, when you say quartet…" Kratos started.

"Never mind. Anyway, after that, we came here." I said quickly. "Hang on, I think I have had a sudden flash of inspiration."

I faced the Dark Dragon blocking the way forward.

* * *

Like I said at the beginning, sorry that this is up late. I had some serious writers block, I had to pave the way for certain events in the next two chapters (I think there will only be two, but possibly three.) In short, it was determined not to happen.

Reviews please. Thanks to Sunfrost and GenisAddict (Who's reviewed more times than I thought.) Bloody Jack Lover, if you're still reading, please let me know. And I think that's it.

Oh, just one fact. There are 1420 hits but only 26 reviews! Come on. This story's almost finished and I'm only going to keep writing if I manage to get…say, 30 reviews. That'd make me happy. It's only four more.


	22. The Importance of Being Polite

This idea kinda popped out of nowhere. When I thought of it I had to change the last bit of the latest chapter.

I don't own Tales of Symphonia. (Why must my failure keep coming back to haunt me? T.T)

* * *

"This is nuts!" Stephen exclaimed when I mentioned my idea.

"But it may save us time and strength." Kratos pointed out.

"We should at least wait for everyone to wake."

"No." I said firmly. "They'd try and stop me. Besides, we can handle this. I know we can."

"Blind faith clouds one's judgement." Kratos said warningly.

"This isn't blind."

I stepped forward. I knew it was a good idea to appeal to the dragon's vain side.

"Breath of fire, body made for flight, creature of awe." Even though my words were softly spoken, they were clear and sincere. It's hard not to be filled with awe facing a dragon that big.

"Please, I'm no fire-breather and I can hardly fly." The dragon's voice was feminine and as soft as mine.

"Still, you look magnificent." I insisted.

I felt somehow that the dragon was smiling. "Why are you even talking to me? Your friends were already talking of killing me."

"They only wish to get to Yggdrasil, and they know he is in the room which you are guarding."

"Guarding? I merely find this the most comfortable place to sit. The rest of this castle has such small corridors."

"Then why haven't you moved?" I was now curious.

"No one has asked me politely. Never underestimate the importance of being polite."

"Well then, could you please move?"

"That's a start. But I had to tell you first…If one of the ones who are currently sleeping asks then I shall move."

"Thank you."

I stepped back.

"How are we going to get one of them to say it?" I asked Kratos and Stephen.

"Why don't we just ask them?" Stephen suggested.

"It wouldn't work. They are the ones who need to remember their manners. The dragon as good as told us that."

"Well…wait, do you hear?.." Stephen began.

I heard the sound of someone yawning.

"They're getting up."

A certain spiky-haired, twin-swordsman destined to reform the word staggered towards us - still half-asleep - and rubbed his eyes. (A/N I managed to put 5 –'s in there; beat that!)

"Ah, Lloyd. Just the person Kratos wanted to see." I said with a smirk.

"Oh. What is it?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm not entirely sure myself." Kratos muttered.

I sighed. "The importance of being polite." I whispered.

"Ah. Lloyd, you know it's important to be polite to strangers?"

"What's brought this on?" Lloyd asked, puzzled.

"No matter what they look like?"

"Okay, okay. It's good to be polite. So, what were you doing all night?"

"Talking about past-times. Kratos has some interesting stories about the Kharlan war that you should probably ask about sometime."

Kratos looked at me and mouthed, "I have?" behind Lloyd's back.

"Oh. You know, I'd better wake everyone up." Lloyd ran off.

"I bet you're going to miss him." I said to Kratos.

"I will." It was a full three seconds before he realised I meant when he goes away on Derris-Kharlan, opened his mouth to ask how I knew, then thought better of it and closed his mouth again.

The group eventually got packed and ready.

"I don't think this is a such good idea." I said quietly, yet audibly.

When no-one replied I said, "Fine, just want you to know that you've made the wrong decision."

The group drew their weapons, except Kratos Stephen and I.

"Don't attack." I said the two words calmly but with authority.

Lloyd, either not hearing or ignoring me, ran and made a nick on the dragon's foot.

"Stop!" I shouted, using the wind to hold back – and in Lloyd's case – throw back my own group.

"I have your word?" I turned to the dragon.

"I shall not harm them."

"Thank you." I reminded myself to be overly polite. Maybe Lloyd will pick it up subconsciously, or something.

"Nia, what are you doing?" Raine asked.

"This fight is unnecessary."

"Just because it's a dragon, you're going to side with it?" Sheena asked. "It's evil."

"It's not evil!" I shouted. "And it was unfair of you to make that accusation. Not to mention rude."

Come on Lloyd, get the hint…

"Genis, Raine, Zelos. Can you hit it with spells?" Lloyd asked his team-mates.

"Lloyd, if you start casting spells, the dragon will act in self-defence. And I may involuntarily add another ticked off dragon to the mix. I suggest you don't do anything provocative." I said.

"Um…" Lloyd sounded sheepish. "Could you explain what that means, Genis?"

"Lloyd, don't ask us to cast spells."

"Ah, gotcha."

"Lloyd, you can stop this."

"Me?"

God, give me strength. We'll be lucky to leave this room today at this rate!

"What did Kratos tell you this morning?"

"Um, I forgot."

I swear, if we were in an anime movie, we all would've sweatdropped.

"The world is doomed. Origin left the Eternal Sword in the hands of an idiot." I muttered.

"Hey!" Kratos shouted.

"No offence intended." I held up my hands in a mock surrender.

"Kratos, are you on their side?" Lloyd asked, a tinge of regret coming into his voice.

"Lloyd, there aren't any sides! I'm trying to get you past this without a fight. If I wanted the dragon to win, you'd all be dead right now!"

"We can get past the dragon without fighting?" Genis thought aloud.

"Start thinking of dragons as being intelligent beings, like us." The dragon turned to look at me, so I added, "In the majority of cases, _more_ intelligent."

"Think of the dragon as a human?" Genis wondered.

"What would we do if a human was blocking the road?" Lloyd asked himself. Then, he got it. "We'd ask that person to move! Um, excuse me, could you please move?" Lloyd asked.

"Still took a little while, but I'll let you pass." The dragon moved to the main part of the hallway, freeing the door.

"Thank you."

I released the group from the wind's hold and we faced our biggest challenge yet…Opening the fifty-foot tall doors of Derris-Kharlan. Just kidding, our biggest challange would be Mithos and Naois.

* * *

Easily the quickest and easiest chapter I've ever written. In comparison to the last chapter, this was almost too easy! Possibly a little cheesy, but it's true. If a hero cannot stop and ask a dragon to move instead of killing it, then how are they better than the bad guys?

Reviews…reviews!


	23. Confrontation

Yay! Thank you, Katana of the Jade Wings, GenisAddict and Sunfrost for making me feel so happy! I love getting reviews!

Late up because of a three-day sleepover, which translates to three days not writing World Traveller and writing Regeneration.

I don't own Tales of Symphonia!

* * *

I numbly stepped through the doors, listening to the speeches that I now knew by heart. It seemed silly, but a part of me still refused to believe that I was standing right here, in Derris-Kharlan.

We stepped into the teleport after Lloyd said, "All right let's go! We're going to restore a world where everyone can live freely!"

We were in a long, ruined hallway, with the motionless figure of Yggdrasil hovering at its end.

"Home…I'm going home…" Yggdrasil said emotionlessly.

"Mithos, listen to me! We don't have to fight! Please return the Great Seed to us so that we can reunite the worlds." Genis tried to reason.

"Home…I'm going home…" Yggdrasil repeated.

"Something's wrong. He sounds like a puppet." Lloyd said.

Mithos' Cruix Crystal detached itself from my neck, painfully and I collapsed to my knees, gasping for breath.

"I need to thank you for going through all the trouble to bring me back here. I'm finally myself again."

"You needed me to come here, in order to be whole. It was a big risk. What if I didn't?"

"There was no likelihood of that eventuality occurring. I learnt that by being in your head."

I shuddered at the memory, or rather, memories.

"Mithos, Martel is already dead." Genis tried to make him see sense.

"You're wrong. Martel _is_ alive, just as I lived on in the Cruix Crystal." Mithos insisted.

"That's not living! That's just existing as a lifeless being!" Lloyd protested.

"What's wrong with that?"

"What!" Lloyd asked incredulously.

Yggdrasil turned his gaze straight at Genis. "After all, in our bodies flow the bloods of humans and elves; the bloods of those that despise us." He shook his head. "We're better off casting aside such filth and becoming lifeless beings."

Lloyd, like most in our group was shocked. "That's what you really want?"

Yggdrasil's voice changed to Mithos'. "Of course. Watch! When you become a lifeless being, you can even control your appearance and growth." We were now looking at the twelve year old form of Mithos.

"Everyone should become lifeless beings."

It was Mithos' cold voice, with his sense of absolute confidence, which made me cry out. "You're wrong. By sacrificing emotion, you may as well simply kill the entire population. In fact, they may even prefer that! Never again to experience joy, fear, hope, despair, love or hate…it would be an experience worse than death." I was speaking in the cold, calm voice that I used when truly upset.

"The only way to eliminate discrimination is for everyone to become the same race." It was a fact, stated in the same way as someone states an obvious truth, like the sky is blue.

One problem though: the sky isn't blue. It's just our perception of it. If that truth is wrong, then so must Mithos'.

"What you hope for is nothing but a dream, Mithos. Discrimination comes from the heart." Lloyd said.

"He's right, Mithos. It's the weakness of people's hearts that causes discrimination. Looking down upon others while placing themselves too high…" Genis explained.

"Even if there was only one race, discrimination would still occur. People would be picked on for their birthplace, their hair colour or their beliefs." Stephen gave a description of Reality.

"You do the same thing!" Sheena accused. "You look down on humans and elves, treating them like cattle. That's the weakness of your heart."

"Even if people become lifeless beings, nothing will change. Discrimination will continue."

"Then where should the half-elves go? We aren't accepted anywhere. We opened our hearts, but no one took us in. Where should _we_ live?" Mithos asked.

"You can live anywhere you like." Lloyd reasoned.

"Don't make me laugh." Mithos said in the least amused tone of voice possible.

"I'm serious. Anywhere is fine. If you aren't doing anything wrong, then you should live proudly in the open."

"It's because we couldn't do that that I…that we wanted a place of our own." The pain of rejection – made worse over time – was audible in Mithos' voice.

"But that is not an excuse for the things we have done. It is merely a motive, not a justification." Kratos, being the closest one to Mithos in our group, tried explaining things from his side.

"What you've done has caused meaningless suffering to countless people. Can you feel their pain?" Presea's words had a harsh tone.

"People can change, even if they don't change right away. Months, years…as time passes change is inevitable." Raine's voice was soft, understanding.

"Maybe not everything can be forgiven, but one can try to atone for one's sins." I swear that Colette stole that from a combination of Lloyd and Kratos. "Can't you feel it in your heart? The Goddess known as conscience…"

That reminds me of a scene in Final Fantasy VII where Cloud asks Vincent if sins are ever forgiven. Back to Symphonia, however…

"Do you think I'm going to beg for forgiveness? _Ridiculous_. There is no Goddess, so I shall continue to pursue my ideals. If there is no place where I can live, and if I've been denied my Age of Lifeless Beings, then the only thing left for me is to build a new world on Derris-Kharlan. A world just for my sister and me!" At the end of this little speech, Mithos pulled out his rainbow coloured wings.

'_Dammit, how come the little brat's got wings!'_

"There's nothing anyone can do!" Mithos almost spat, before we launched into battle.

'_Wait a second. You said Naois would fight at the same time as Mithos…'_ I thought to Stephen as I summoned fire.

As if on cue, Naois appeared.

'_I _really_ shouldn't have asked.'_

Then I noticed the jewels and symbols on the walls that _shouldn't_ be there.

"Be on guard. Naois has prepared some kind of spell."

To my surprise Mithos – not Naois – spoke first. "Nia. When I was inside you I looked around at your memories. You and Stephen aren't of this world! You know exactly what will happen, and now, so do I. I will make sure that future never comes to pass!"

I wanted to say a four-lettered word repeatedly just then. Now, Mithos was fighting to ensure he didn't die.

"Envelope your souls in darkness, surrender unto your fear. Lose yourselves in pain and misery." Naois chanted.

The jewels sparkled and glowed softly.

"Create despair and let it run amok. Imprisoning Darkness!"

Naois turned to Mithos. "The rest is in your hands. Remember, you can't do anything until they wake. If you do…"

Naois' voice faded into nothing. The next thing I, or anyone else saw was black.

* * *

I bet you hate me now. I bet you wish I hadn't discovered the joy of cliff-hangers! If you want to torture me _now_, though, you should read Regeneration. Even I hate some of the things I've done to poor Kratos! And I wrote them! But I have to explain that they weren't my idea, and if I had my way, they wouldn't exist.

Back to World Traveller. Two more chapters! Yes, I know I said that two chapters ago, but I didn't realise, okay? Please review, otherwise Kratos will die, and I can make that threat honestly now, thanks to Regeneration! I bet no-one's read this far. If you have…free Jamaican ginger cake for you!


	24. Out of the Darkness and into the Light

I have the ultimate way of staying up all night without caffeine! Olbas oil (A mixture of mint oils) rubbed into the skin. I found that out on a sleepover! I've only done it once, before TWS gives me an earful!

I'm trying to get this up before I go to a little place called Nottingham. (Robin Hood country! Seriously, they have that written on their signs! Welcome to Nottinghamshire, Robin Hood Country!)

Me no own Tales of Symphonia or Miracle-Gro (don't ask).

* * *

Complete and utter darkness. Good thing I grew out of that fear of the dark, then.

More that anything, I wondered, 'How?'

This had happened before, and after the experience was over, Stephen and I had created barriers, protection against this spell.

I heard pitiful sobbing. Rough and heavy, yet delicate, small sobs. I knew who it was instantly, as if it was myself who'd cried.

'_Cyclone? Can you hear me? What's wrong?' _

'_I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to let her in, I swear. I just…'_

'_What happened?'_ My voice was soft and sympathetic, but my mind was reeling.

'It's just that you've been speaking to me less and less lately. And then you spoke to the dragon and I got jealous. I'm sorry. I wish I could have changed the way I felt.'

'_I forgive you. You _can't_ change the way you feel. I'm sorry too. I should have realised. Sometimes…well, all the time, I forget that you were and still are the spirit of the wind, not just a dragon.'_

'Thank you. At least you understand. Fate could have been so much crueller to me and given me a child that was stubborn or stupid…I'm trying to say I'm lucky to have you.'

The darkness around me suddenly felt less oppressive.

'_No way! Naois is losing her touch. That was…easy. There's no other word for it.'_

'_What?'_

'_We've just broken Naois' spell in record time. We, – this is going to sound cheesy – through the power of forgiveness, have shattered the darkness that rendered us helpless.'_

'_Oh.'_ Cyclone sounded…disappointed?

'_What's wrong?'_ I asked.

'_You just said those things to get out of here, didn't you?'_

'_Cyclone, I had no idea what would break the spell. Did it sound like I was lying? Did it feel like I was deceiving you? I could no more lie to you than…dive into a swimming pool.'_

The dragon stayed silent, thinking.

'_Whatever happens, I'm facing it with you at my side. I'm not leaving here until we sort this out, Cyclone. If that means my motionless body is caught in the crossfire, and has Indignation Judgement, or Absolute cast on it, so be it.'_

'_No. Go. I need to think.'_

'_I'm not leaving.'_ I said firmly. _'I can't leave things between us like this.'_

'_You make it sound like we're a couple.' _Cyclone laughed in the weary way that someone who has just been crying laughs.

'_If we were, we'd top the charts on weirdness.' _I pointed out.

There was a short silence before Cyclone said, _'Nia, let's go. We have butt to kick and names to take!'_

I laughed, recognising the Reggie Fils-Aime quote that had to have come from my own memories.

(Reggie famously said at E3 2004 'My name's Reggie and I'm all about kicking ass and taking names.' He's the president of Nintendo of America. My source of info? ONM!)

Sometime I'd have to ask Cyclone how far he'd gone into my memories.

I banished the darkness from my senses, then screwed my eyes shut when everything was too bright.

I heard the sound of metal, swords being drawn. Through my barely used elven blood, I felt large amounts of mana flying everywhere around me.

I opened my eyes and entered the unfolding battle around me. Naois has mysteriously vanished, but I thought little off it. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

I concentrated on a part of my mind that wasn't mine, but as much a part of me as anything else about me.

'_Cyclone, we fight together.'_ I said simply.

He understood, as I knew he would, and appeared beside me. 'Let's go!'

I jumped as far as I could straight up. Cyclone took to the air and flew straight underneath me. I landed on Cyclone, so that I was standing.

At any other time, this would have felt wrong, like I was overstepping a line. But now, our minds were on the battle and how to win.

Cyclone and I flew above Mithos.

"I have an idea…no, sorry. It was stupid…you've never done a unison attack before…sorry." Cyclone didn't put his words into sentences, but just said them how they occurred in his mind.

"Now's as good a time as any to learn." I said, a smile automatically creeping on to my face.

"Okay, do what comes to mind and I'll help."

I focused on the air, making it whip Mithos all over the place, channelling all the anger I felt on behalf of Lloyd and Kratos and everyone into the movements. Mithos hardly moved, until Cyclone helped by flapping his wings harder. I understood how the wind rolled off flapping wings, seeing how often I was the one doing the flapping. I used that knowledge to help coax the air already set in motion to slam into Mithos.

He staggered, which gave everyone the opportunity to land a few hits before he recovered. Our actions had, unfortunately, alerted Mithos to us, so we now had to watch out for spells that could reach us in the air. The most common of these being Judgement.

We also had to watch out for the lances in Holy Lance, the rays in Ray, and the 'oh-my-god-what's-that?' in Indignation Judgement. Luckily, the latter didn't come along that often.

The only major problem we had as a group was Retribution…

"Disappear…Retribution!" Mithos shouted.

I felt a painful gnawing in my stomach, and felt I was going to be sick, but I knew I wouldn't heave.

"Cyclone? You 'k?" I managed to choke out.

"Dragons are impervious to a lot of magic. But you, you're poisoned. You need to do something."

I fumbled around for a Panacea Bottle, starting to worry with a sick dread that I didn't have any, or wouldn't be able to use it when I did find it. After all, weren't they liquid?

I felt warmth and the easing of pain. I looked to see Raine lowering her staff and knew she'd helped me.

I knew Mithos was weakening when he started talking. "My sister means everything to me. I won't let anyone get in my way. If I have to, I'll revert this entire world to nothingness."

Lloyd, dodging a spell, asked, "You're willing to trade the world just for your sister?"

"None of you understand how I feel." Mithos shouted, casting Judgement.

"You're the one who doesn't understand!" Lloyd said in-between sword swipes.

Some time later, Cyclone and I flew directly above Mithos. A few flames spat out of Cyclone's mouth and I knew – inexplicably – what to do.

His fire came down in a solid column of red. I put my hands as close to the flames as I could risk. Then, I added my own fire to the column, giving it spiralling white streaks. Cyclone's fire would burn mana, as mine would burn flesh. In time, I would look back on this attack and give it a name: Twin Inferno.

Deservingly, this hit ended the current fight.

"My dream of a world, just for my sister and me." Mithos whispered.

"This isn't over yet." Lloyd warned everyone.

Mithos turned into his second form, a combination of the Judged, the Neglected and the Fugitive. Only Mithos' face was visible, in the domelike 'head' of the creature.

He began by casting Flame Lance. We flew straight into it, and I absorbed the fire mana.

"It's a little different to proper fire, but it's alright. Doesn't hurt." I said to Cyclone.

"Nia, it's rude to steal someone else's spell." Cyclone said, amusement in his voice. "I suggest you give it back to him."

"I hear you loud and clear." I threw the full force of the Flame Lance, plus a little extra fire down towards Mithos.

Mithos cast Judgement. Cyclone was incredible, trying to weave through the beams of light, but eventually we were hit and brought down to land.

Cyclone tried to take off quickly, but was hit by Thunder Arrow.

"Cyclone! Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'll be fine. But my wing…" I looked at his right wing and noticed a tear in the skin, probably made from Judgement.

"You won't be able to fly. Not for a while, at least."

"I don't have to fly to fight." To prove his point, Cyclone walked up to Mithos' large form, and breathed fire on the top, leaving everyone attacking below unharmed.

I smiled and ran in, to attack. I gave Mithos a kick, and it felt weak. I made myself content to kick and punch away at Mithos, but my heart was in fire magic. In a couple of minutes, Lloyd used Rising Falcon, which struck the dome on top, ending the battle.

"Martel." Mithos gasped pitifully.

"Goodbye…Mithos." Lloyd said regretfully.

Even though Mithos was dead, a translucent Mithos stood in front of the throne.

"Mithos is…" Colette started, confused.

"It's just like Alicia! Mithos will continue to live as long as the Cruxis Crystal exists." Presea explained.

Mithos spoke. "And eventually, I will be taken over by the crystal."

"Mithos…" Lloyd started.

"I'm tired of playing your game of good-and-evil. Hurry up and destroy the crystal. If you don't, Derris-Kharlan will continue to drift away." Mithos sounded pathetic, but there was something…some emotion under the surface I couldn't grasp. Was it…eagerness?

"Mithos…"

"Do it now, before I, too am no longer myself." Mithos kept to this pitiful tone.

"Lloyd, please, help him! Let him die while he's still himself." Genis pleaded.

"All right." Lloyd said.

"Farewell my shadow, you who stand at the end of the path I chose not to follow. I wanted my own world, so I don't regret my choice. I would make the same choice all over again. I will continue to choose this path." Mithos said, head up proudly.

Lloyd brought his sword up and hesitated for just the slightest second. I could only imagine what was going through his head right then. Finally, he brought his sword down, shattering the crystal.

Something white and sparkling gathered around Lloyd, then entered his Exsphere.

Lloyd looked at his Exsphere and whispered to it, to Mithos, "You could have…you could have lived with us in our world."

Two glowing lights, one red and one blue, started at the hilt of Lloyd's two swords and rose into the air. I found myself mesmerised with them. They turned into Lloyd's Material Blades. The Material Blades merged together to form a purple broadsword, pulsing with energy. Everyone knew it was the Eternal Sword.

Origins voice came out of everywhere and nowhere. "The old master of the pact is no more. What does the new master of the pact ask of this sword?"

"Restore the true form of our two worlds." Lloyd said as he held his sword high above his head. The Eternal Sword glowed…

From our vantage point on Derris-Kharlan, we saw pinpricks of light directly below us, which spread out across the world. Then, the world grew cloudy orange, before becoming a lush green and blue planet, slightly obscured by wisps of cloud.

A white light blinded us momentarily, before we felt grass beneath our feet.

"Are we back?" Lloyd asked.

The ground started to shake.

"What's going on?" Lloyd asked.

All of the Summon Spirits appeared –Undine, Efreet, Sephie, Fairess, Yutis, Gnome, Celsius, Volt, Luna, Aska and Shadow.

"What are you all doing?" Sheena asked.

It struck me that a lot of people were asking unanswered questions.

Origin spoke to the eternal swordsman. "Your wish is granted. But there is no link. Without a link the land will die."

Kratos muttered to himself, "Just as I thought."

"The world was originally split into two in order to prevent it's destruction. If it returns to it's true form, the world lacks the mana to support itself. The land is dying."

Lloyd spoke with his usual determination. "I don't need to know why it's dying! What do we need to do to stop it?"

"Support the two worlds by linking them with the Giant Tree. That is the only way to stop the destruction of the land."

Kratos tried to explain it in simpler terms. "We need to restore the Giant Kharlan Tree."

It doesn't get much simpler than that!

"I get it."

"Lloyd, quickly, before Derris-Kharlan flies off into the distant reaches of space, use its mana to awaken the Great Seed. That's the only way to revive it." Kratos explained.

"All right, then. I'm counting on you, Eternal Sword."

"Derris-Kharlan is at the edge of the gravitational field. Not even Yggdrasil…Mithos could stop this from happening." Origin warned. "Do you still intend to try?"

"Yeah." Lloyd sighed.

"Even strengthened by your Exsphere, it is not likely that your body will withstand the forces. Are you certain of your decision?"

I was getting annoyed with Origin. Yes, he is still going to go and save the world. No, he's not going to back down. Yes, he is certain of his decision. No, he does not want to phone a friend, ask the audience or go 50/50!

"I said I'm doing it, so I'm doing it. It's not like we have a choice."

True, we could just let Derris-Kharlan drift off, but everyone would die a long, drawn out, painful death. That fate isn't just true fore the humans, elves and half-elves, though. That would be true for all the plants and animals, too.

"Very well."

The Eternal Sword disappeared, and it's mana swirled around the Great Seed. After circling a couple of times, it disperced into space.

"The mana's being deflected!" Lloyd said disbelievingly, as if, if he didn't believe it, then it wouldn't be true.

"The Great Seed is already dead?" Colette sounded heartbroken.

"Wait, don't go! Please, wake up!" Lloyd implored.

Lloyd's Exsphere glowed. Two enormous wings appeared on Lloyd's back.

Lloyd flew up into the air, leaving ten bewildered people behind him. Colette followed soon after.

I was one of the first to recover, saying, "Anyone else confused?"

"The Angelus Project was to be an upgrade of Mithos' Cruxis Crystal. It makes sense that it should have superior powers, including wings, to his." Kratos attempted to explain.

Keeping our eyes to the sky, our first sign that Lloyd was successful was the Seed plummeting down to Symphonia.

I had an idea and started running to where the Seed had landed. I clambered over the debris of the Tower, some of which were half as tall as me. I heard Stephen panting behind me.

We found the clearing where the Seed was now a seedling and disappointingly, Tabatha was now Martel. That would have been cool to see.

Lloyd and Colette landed, their wings disappearing behind them.

"I am Martel, and also the incarnation of the Great Seed itself." Martel said, as way of introduction. "Lloyd, your hope, as well as those hope of many others resurrected me."

"So, you're Mithos' sister?"

"No, Mithos' sister Martel is just one of many souls within me. I am Mana and I am the Giant Tree. I am a symbol of the many lives sacrificed to the Great Tree. I am a new spirit born to accompany the Giant Tree. And now the Seed has awaken anew with me…"

Behind Martel, the Great Seed appeared to grow very fast.

'_Who overdosed on the Miracle-Gro?'_ Stephen asked.

"This is the Giant Kharlan Tree?" Lloyd asked incredulously.

"It's so beautiful, and so grand." Colette said.

Looking through my own eyes, I had to agree. I roughly calculated that the circumference of the trunk was about 720cm. Then divide that by pi…

I didn't have a calculator on me. When I got back to reality, however, I found that the diameter was roughly 229.18cm making the area of a cross-section of the trunk roughly 165011.85cm squared (correct to two decimal places), which simplified is 16.5 metres squared. (Phew…if you want to argue about that, you are more than welcome; I've had to triple check that!)

Yes, I'm blathering on about trees…you have permission to be afraid for my mental health.

Once we've established that the tree is big…

"This is the future form of the Giant Tree. But right now it is only a small seedling. In it's current state, it will wither and die."

"Well then, how do we protect it?" Lloyd asked.

"You must provide the tree with love and adoration. As long as those conditions are met, I shall always protect this seedling."

"I promise, if the tree ever starts to wither, I'll make sure, we won't let it die!" Lloyd clenched his fist half way through the promise.

"Then Lloyd, on behalf of all living things, I want you to give this tree a new name, as a proof of the pact."

"What?"

"The Giant Kharlan Tree was planted here by the elves when they came, as a guardian to watch over and protect them. This newly reborn tree protect elves, humans and the lives of all those who are caught in between. Therefore, this tree requires a new name."

"Lloyd, pick a name for us. A name for everyone's tree." Colette said perkily.

"I see. So this tree is the link that connects the world…Okay, I got it. This tree's name is…"

* * *

Ha! Cliff-hanger! But, unlike the game, I will tell you the name. (That rhymed!) Some (smart) people already know the name, either from their own intellect or other people's. OMG This chapter was massive! Nine pages!

Big, big big big big thank you to Katana of the Jade Wings and Starlight Demon Firesong for constantly reviewing. And thanks to 'you don't need to know' for reviewing (and reading all the way through 130 pages! I've put all of my chapters into one word document, without the disclaimer and the random rubbish I spurt at the beginning and end of each chapter.)

Someone may have guessed that I'm a bit of a detail nut by the end of this chapter…

(I guessed from the size of Lloyd and Colette against the tree. Therefore, these are nowhere near accurate. And I wasted a heck of a lot of time doing this. The pointlessness is killing me.)

Estimated circumference of the Giant Kharlan Tree 7.2m

Estimated diameter of the Giant Kharlan Tree 2.29m

Estimated area of the Giant Kharlan Tree's trunk cross-section 855.42m squared


	25. Named Tree

It's a pleasure and a sorrow, to announce…the LAST chapter! #sob#

I don't own Tales of Symphonia, but I notice a couple of plot flaws.

1) A lot of people have noticed the coffins in the Tower of Salvation. They are supposed to be failed Chosens, but there are much more than fourteen coffins. (Colette is the seventh Chosen, say that's only from Sylvarant, add Tethe'alla's Chosens and you get fourteen. If someone wants to be picky, thirteen.)

2) Raine says that she feels like she's seen the wingpack technology before. This is supposedly when she was young and her parents were on the run. However, Tethe'alla was in decline at that time, so didn't have modern magitechnology at this time. (This also helps unsupport #1 on the list, because in the space of around thirteen years after a world goes into decline a Chosen sets off to save the world.)

If anyone's noticed any more, please say. Similarly, if anyone has an explanation for any of the above, please tell.

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"I see. So this tree is the link that connects the world…Okay, I got it. This tree's name is…" Lloyd began. "…- in memory of the last four thousand years – Yggdrasil."

'_What!'_ Stephen thought.

'_He was destined to choose Yggdrasil.'_ I explained. _'In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil _(can also be spelt Yggdrasill)_ is the cosmic ash tree which linked the worlds of Asgard, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Vanaheim and Muspell.'_ (Most of that came from memory!)

'_How are you so smart?'_

'_I read.'_

The rest of the group climbed up over the rubble behind us.

"Way to go, Lloyd!" Genis said.

"Like we could expect anything less." Zelos pointed out.

Raine smiled contentedly.

Kratos even smiled! Like I was going to let him get away with that!

"Kratos, you're doing that weird thing when the corners of your mouth curl up." Yes, I am evil.

"Is it a crime for me to smile?" Kratos reply made everyone who wasn't already looking at him in disbelief, turn around and stare.

"Do we intend to stay here all night?" Regal asked.

The sun was setting fast, bathing the whole scene in golden light.

We decided to go to Meltokio, and spend a last night together before heading our different ways. For some of us, more different than others.

A fire filled the main room with light. We had all found a chair, or a patch of sofa, to sit on. Not an easy feat, considering that there was eleven of us.

"So, tomorrow evening we'll be heading our different ways home." I sighed, hugging my knees.

"It's not goodbye for ever, though. We can still see each other." Colette said optimistically.

That really tore me up. Knowing that they wouldn't see me unless I choose for them to. Kratos gave me a meaningful look. I gave him a look back, which I hoped said, 'I'll tell them soon.'

"So, what will you do? Regal?" Lloyd asked.

"I shall destroy the part of Toize Valley Mine which produces Exspheres. Then, I shall think of a way my company and I can make this new world a better place."

We went round the group. Raine and Genis said that they were going to journey to make people see half-elves differently, Lloyd said he was going with Sheena on a journey to collect all the remaining Exspheres, Presea wasn't sure what she'd do, Colette wanted to see her family again and Zelos would try and reform the Church of Martel.

"Something's still bugging me." Genis announced.

"Yes, when Mithos said you weren't from this world…" Raine said, attempting to lock eyes with me, who currently found the floor extremely interesting.

"He was right. Stephen and I aren't from Tethe'alla or Sylvarant." I said.

"You lied to us?" There was no anger in Lloyd's voice, strangely.

"Yes, and I hated every second of it. I was raised to be honest." I had been dreading this moment since the first lie, knowing that it would come to this, hoping that it wouldn't.

"Hear them out." Kratos said. "I knew they weren't from Symphonia and I didn't tell you. They have some good, if unusual explanations."

Genis wondered, "Does this have something to do with the time when you left, just before we formed the pact with Volt? We were asking you questions, and you said you couldn't answer them because it would destroy this world, or something."

"Yes, that's it."

"Well, what's your world like? How did you get here?" Genis asked.

"Stephen, do want to tell the tale?" I asked.

"Nah, you're better with words."

"Okay. Everything started on my thirteenth birthday. That sounds so clichéd, but it's true. I was brought before my birthday cake, with the candles on it. At the sight of even those tiny flames I did a double take and hesitated.

"For my party, I went paint-balling with some friends." I had to explain first what paintball was, then what a gun was, then I had to explain why it was fun to shoot each other with paint.

"Anyway, I was really good at it. Too good, for I'd never been paint-balling before. Hardly any shots went stray, I was hardly shot myself. At the time, my friends and I put it down to luck.

"Then came the sickness. No-one knew what was wrong with me. I had a bad headache, and my body was aching. When I fell asleep, I had nightmares like I'd never had before. Someone or something was coming.

"A few days later, I didn't feel hungry, thirsty or tired, so I didn't eat, drink or sleep. I started getting scared after five days of this. I was getting weaker, but couldn't eat.

"Suddenly, I had a sneezing fit, and at the end, my blanket was on fire. I quickly patted it out, but the flames didn't hurt. Even better, all my pains had gone.

"I never slept after that, except once. It was short, but filled me with a feeling of dread, and excitement. Something has come. Someone is yet to come.

"Now that I didn't sleep, I had my nights free. At first I read books, then made sure my homework was up to date, things like that. Then I heard voices. It took me a while to realise they were the birds outside. It took me even longer to find out how to talk back to them.

"I built a friendship with the birds. It was some of the more nocturnal birds that accompanied me outside at night for the first couple of nights. I would have been scared otherwise.

"In the dark and chilly night, I saw someone getting mugged. Normally I would have run away, and call the police or something.

"But I shouted, 'Get away from him!'

"I hardly impressed the mugger. 'A little girl like you is gonna stop me? Gimme a break.'

"The mugger left his victim and turned to me. Something just clicked in me. I ran towards him, fists in a ready position. I lashed out with my left fist, ducked under his own counter-attack and swung my right fist into his jaw. I circled to get behind him, then stuck a foot in front of him and pushed him over.

"I tended to the mugger's victim.

" 'Are you alright?' I asked.

" 'I don't need help from a girl.' The man spat and walked away.

"Some people are really charming aren't they? At least I could've had a thank you. I continued walking through the night, when an abandoned house caught my eye. I'd never been in it before, so I decided to explore.

"It was pitch-black and I thought of turning back, when I bumped into someone or something.

" 'What was that? Who's there?' A male voice asked.

"The voice sounded familiar to me. 'Hello. I'm Nia. Who are you?'

" 'Nia? Nia in Year Eight? SJT?' The voice asked.

" 'Yes! Who is this?'

" 'Stephen. KT.'

**(A/N: The initials stand for form teachers in school.) **

" 'Wait, what are you doing here? At-' I checked my watch, 'three in the morning?'

" 'The same question can be asked of you.' Stephen reminded me.

"A long silence followed before I tried to do something about being in the dark. I remembered _the_ fire. I tried to picture it, but the flames kept twisting and flickering, making it tricky to grip. Eventually, I managed it, and fire appeared on my hand. It was small, equivalent to a candle flame, but it cast a fair bit of light on my surroundings. One of the walls of the small room, I found some writing.

" '_Plant o'r tân ar plant o'r dŵr_…It's in Welsh.' I announced.

" 'What does it say?' Stephen asked.

" 'Child of the fire and child of the water…I can't read it all. It keeps repeating the words, _'tynged'_ and _'perygl'_' "

Kratos interrupted my story to input the meaning of the words. "Fate or destiny, and danger."

"We found it out later. To cut a long story short, we found out about our powers, including the power to travel through worlds. We practiced our powers every night, went to a few worlds and then we came here. Did I leave anything out?"

"You haven't said how you knew what was going to happen in Symphonia." Kratos put in.

"It's a kind of magitechnology, which looks into other worlds. If I could, I'd show it to you."

"You knew everything that would happen?" Raine asked incredulously.

"So, you're going to go back in to your own world?" Lloyd asked.

"Yes. If we don't go back, our world would be destroyed, and that would probably destroy this world too. We'll stay for a bit, though."

After my story, the mood for conversation had gone, and everyone went to sleep. I stepped outside for a while. The nearby birds, sensing something different, came to investigate me.

"I'm glad the mana went back to normal." I told the birds, even though they wouldn't understand. "It means all of you animals are back to normal too."

"Big…hurting…head. Kill…die…humans…no more. All…good…now." I had forgotten how basic a sparrow's vocabulary and communication skills were.

I heard footsteps behind me. I turned to see Lloyd.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I couldn't get to sleep."

A thought occurred to me, but I kept it to myself. Lloyd was now an angel. Did that mean he couldn't eat or sleep?

"Anyway, I wanted to apologise. I guess I caused you a lot of problems by asking you those questions. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. It happens all the time."

"Still, I shouldn't have…" I waved aside his apologies.

"Don't. Worry."

"Okay…You never really said what your world is like."

I thought for a while. "It's a world without magic, a world without elves and half-elves."

"So, there isn't any discrimination?" Lloyd asked hopefully.

"People are discriminated against for the stupidest things, like the colour of their skin. Just because the causes are different, it doesn't mean that discrimination doesn't exist."

"Oh. How bad is it?"

"Bad enough." I sighed. "My world's really messed up. It's overheating, there isn't anywhere left to bury rubbish and at any moment someone's shooting someone else…it's a mad world."

"How can it be that bad? You have to be exag…exager…making it worse." Lloyd gave up.

"It's overheating because there are too many gases in the air given off by machines, and not enough plants to absorb them. Overall, the people in my world are wasteful and throw a lot away. And some of the world leaders aren't mature enough to be a clown at a child's birthday party."

(A/N Full credit to my Grandma for the not mature enough quote. I asked for any suggestions from the people in the room at the time)

"I don't really get it, but I got it." Lloyd said.

I smiled.

'_Cyclone, why don't you come out?'_

'_Clear some room, dragon on the way!'_

"Lloyd, can you just stand over there for a minute?" I gestured towards a wall.

"Um, sure." Lloyd seemed confused, but moved anyway.

Cyclone appeared as normal.

Lloyd's confused look melted away.

"Thank you for - helping is too small a word – in the fight against Mithos, Cyclone." I said.

"You did just as much. We were a brilliant team." Cyclone sounded proud.

I was about to reply when I heard more footsteps.

"Hello, Stephen."

"How did you know it was him?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm a specialist when it comes to footsteps, and I've heard Stephen's before. Besides, not many other people are up at this time."

It turned out I was right on one account – Stephen was behind us. However, I failed to hear the second person that was with him.

Lloyd turned around. "Da…Kratos!"

I was in mini giggles. I got a glare off Kratos, but it was worth it.

"Sorry…I won't do it again." I tried to apologise.

I took the silence as forgiveness.

Then I heard more footsteps.

"Come on, Sheena. Everyone's already here, so join the party." I invited.

"How…" She started, then decided it didn't matter. "I couldn't sleep."

"Join the club." Stephen said.

"Anyway, I didn't mention this at the time, but in the Tower of Salvation when you said _'Shimazaki'_…I wondered how much of Mizuho's language you understood. But coming from a different world…how _do_ you know our language?"

"I want to learn Japa-" I sighed, knowing that they wouldn't know what Japanese was. "-an equivalent of Mizuhoen in school. But they won't let us until sixth form. Even though we learn a total of four languages already!"

"So, you wanted to learn more?"

"Yes."

We were silent for a while, Sheena apparently lost in thought.

Then Kratos started talking. "And Angelic?"

"That's from school too. We learnt it from about the age of six." I visibly shuddered.

I remembered all too well the horror of the once-a-week, hour-long lesson. At the age of six, sitting down and writing – in silence – for three quarters of an hour straight seemed like purgatory.

(It really seems ironic that I'm writing this, yet I've brought a Welsh dictionary on holiday with me! That, and the fact that I willingly added Welsh into this fanfic!)

"We make up a group of some really weird people." Stephen said suddenly. "I mean, Nia and I are from another world, there's a dragon standing next to me, there's a unicorn living in my head, we have four angels…"

"One of which is a pervert…" Sheena interrupted.

Stephen continued, "…two half-elves - technically four half-elves – the president of a successful company, a Mizuhoen, and…Presea."

"Oh, us the misfits." I said sarcastically. "I personally feel that we're the normal ones, and everyone else is weird."

There was a yawn from Sheena, who immediately looked sheepish. "I think I'd better go to bed."

She left. Just to re-cap, that left me with Stephen, Cyclone, Kratos and Lloyd. Speaking of which…

"Aren't you tired, Lloyd?" I asked.

"I'm just not sleepy."

"Kratos? What exactly is the Angelus Project? I only know that it was a new Cruxis Crystal for Mithos." I asked.

"I don't know." I turned to Kratos in disbelief. "Mithos didn't make the plans public. I only knew of it by hacking into Derris-Kharlan's computers. And that only gave the fact that it was top secret and the place where it was being…made." His voice was faltering, probably because this was a subject that was close to Anna.

"Wouldn't Yuan know?" Stephen asked.

Kratos shook his head. "Mithos was always less fond of Yuan, probably because Yuan was the only thing that could get in between him and Martel."

"The computers?" I asked, already knowing it was stupid.

"Fried."

"What about if you took the hard drive…" That was Stephen.

"If you can find a hard drive in all that rubble, you're welcome to it."

"So, I guess it's a mystery…Just don't tell Raine. She'll study it until she gets an answer."

"Yeah." Lloyd looked really uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." If he insists…

I saw a faint ribbon of pink on the horizon. Dawn had broken. It was time for us to go…

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Yes, this is the last chapter. But, I've done an epilogue! Which, hopefully, should be posted right now.

Thank you to all my reviewers. Without you, I really wouldn't have got this far. Also, please tell me whether you want any more Nia and Stephen 'fics. (I know some people already have…) I have a couple of other ideas, but they really are pathetic. (I started writing them and couldn't get inspired)


	26. Epilouge

This'll be short.

I don't own Tales of Symphonia.

Told you.

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Everyone had come to the Yggdrasil tree to bid us farewell.

"Goodbye. I was really lucky to have friends like you." I said, every word heartfelt.

"Wait. Before you go, we have something for you." Lloyd said.

I was handed a box, about the size and depth of a small book. Stephen was handed a similar, but deeper box.

"You first." I said.

Stephen didn't need telling twice. He opened the box and gasped at what was inside.

"How did you know?" Stephen asked.

He reached into the box and pulled his gift out. He wore the length of blue material around his shoulders, so it trailed loosely down, stopping an inch before the ground.

Yes, it was a cape. On the top, it was made of a silky material and a light, aqua blue. Underneath the material was slightly heavier and a navy blue. I noticed what looked like two Japanese symbols embroidered near the bottom of the cape – I guessed they were Sheena's idea.

Needless to say, Stephen loved it.

"Now you."

I hesitantly opened the box. What could they have gotten me? The cape and Stephen seemed a perfect match, but how could they do something similar for me?

Any doubts were dispelled instantly when I saw my gift.

I first saw unnatural sparkling, then gold. It was a necklace with a golden chain, which had a smooth piece of wood dangling on it. The piece of wood had – again – two symbols carved into it. There were five feathers hanging from the piece of wood. But they weren't just feathers…

"Angel feathers." I breathed.

In the center was Kratos' turquoise feather, to the right of that was a feather, the tip of which was yellow, but changed to blue. Lloyd's, I guessed. To the right of that was Colette's pink feather. Then on the far left was a bright orange feather – Zelos' – and besides that was a purple feather. I had to think before realizing that it was Yuan's.

I wondered briefly how they got Yuan to donate a feather.

"It's a gift from all of us." Lloyd said. "Raine thought of the idea of give you a gift; Presea did all the woodwork; Sheena wrote the symbols down; the gold was mined from the Toize Valley mines; I worked the metal and me, Kratos, Colette and Zelos gave the feathers."

"What did Genis do?" I asked.

"I brewed the coffee to keep everyone up."

"Thank you. It's beautiful." I said, while attaching the necklace round my neck.

(A/N I drew a picture of the necklace, if anyone's having trouble picturing it. I'll scan it into my computer when I get home on holiday! and put it on my homepage.)

"It's to remind you about us. We'll never forget you." Lloyd said.

"I could never forget about you."

"Nia, we need to go." Stephen said quietly.

I wiped away a tear that I hadn't realized that had formed.

"Goodbye, my friends."

I looked at everything and nothing. My gaze drew me through the worlds, through nothingness and into light at the other end.

I was home.

'_Cyclone, this is my world.'_

I was answered by silence.

'_Cyclone?'_ My heart had been wrenched out.

I no longer had Cyclone with me.

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Yes, that's it. I know someone will ask me why Cyclone's gone. I think it's possible to work it out, but I may be wrong…after all it's only easy to work out if you know the answer.

I can see one really obvious plot flaw, which I'll fix, but if there's anything else wrong, please tell me so I can fix that too. Nitpickers wanted!

Please review and enjoy the holidays that you have left!

(Huggles all reviewers)

And the name of the sequel is: Memories of the Wind and Flame. Hopefully I'll see your reviews there!


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